When Worlds Collide: A Transformers, Pokemon and Digimon Crossover!
by Darren1138
Summary: [STORY REBOOT] TFxPokemonxDigimon crossover! When three different worlds intertwine, what will happen to those worlds? Can those in worlds unknown find their way back, or must they become involved in new threats and dangers, or have their own conflicts take place in them? Find out in this epic crossover! Amourshipping, Takari and more! Rated T for robot violence and possible forms.
1. The Tale Begins

**TRANSFORMERS: When Worlds Collide**

 **A/N~ Hey everyone! In case you aren't in the know, this is a rewrite to my previous fanfic.**

 **I always thought this was a clever fanfic crossover idea I had for years, but due to scheduling conflicts, I have never had the time to touch on it. And when getting back to write chapters, I realize that the story has been quite rushed and some parts made the characters out of their personalities. Which is why, after writing more fanfics and studying the art of storytelling, I have decided to give new light to the idea. This will be a small reboot of my last one.**

 **I would list the changes I have made, but I'm not willing to spoil my stories, so you can stay tuned as each update passes to see what I've changed. I hope to bring more character development and more progressive story-telling as I write, and I also hope you will enjoy the changes.**

 **For now, I shall move on to continue writing. But before I go, let me remind everyone that this is a crossover between THREE series, but since does not give its users the ability to list more than two series in crossovers, it is therefore listed as a TF/Digimon crossover.**

 **I hope you have a good time reading this. Thank you to all who have supported me on the last fanfic, and I shall see you all soon!**

 **Disclaimer:** **TF belongs to Hasbro, Pokemon belongs to Nintendo and Digimon belongs to Toei and Saban Brands.**

* * *

 **Chapter 1: The Tale Begins**

A metallic planet came to view. A planet completely torn apart by cracks and huge gashes with bright fiery flashes of light symbolizing destruction. The metal surface of the world also sported some large areas of rust and what appeared to be war damage in the form of blast craters and explosion marks.

Closer into a war-torn city, highways were completely wrecked and buildings near breaking point. Within the streets, pitch black darkness loomed over the destroyed city. All seemed very quiet as the city was more of a ghost town with an eerie chill surrounding the streets.

But then, at once…

 **VRROOOMMM!**

A rupturing roar of a car engine echoed throughout the otherwise quiet city. It came from a lone yellow hovering automobile, with a black stripe stretching from its front to back, zooming across a speedway with red trails of light coming from behind it.

It blazed through the road like a mad speed demon breaking the speed limit, given that there were no traffic police anywhere to stop it.

It kept on racing across the broken speedway heading towards a tall building complex, where some lights were seen still on; faint but still evident.

As the vehicle was fast heading for the gate in front of the building, it was about to prepare slowing down to a stop at the gate.

Within the interior, there was a bundle of small metal rods with an orange ring of light around each one. But that was not all that was inside. What was weird to see inside for a moving automobile was that at the driver seat, the steering wheel was moving and turning the car.

But no one was behind driving it.

"There it is! The Decagon!" Suddenly, a youthful and excited voice came from the vehicle itself. "Now I gotta call the gatekeeper and…"

 **BWAMMM!**

"Whoa!" But just when all was safe and sound, the vehicle was intercepted by a loud and powerful explosion from behind him, causing him to skid side to side frantically. "Where did that come from?!"

Up in the sky, his answers came. In the air, two sharp objects were seen coming in for the kill. A pair of sleek and futuristic jets, one black and purple, and another blue, swooped in for the yellow car.

"There's that little malfunction!" called out a strict voice from one of the jets.

"Let's turn him into scrap!" The other jet screamed as they split formations. From underneath its wing, a row of missiles was loaded from the main body. At the far end, the furthest missile was fired from the rack, sent swirling towards the car below.

Noticing the incoming rocket, the car, alarmed, sped up to the maximum, hoping to evade it. The projectile was approaching it really fast and was catching up to the target second by second.

"This ain't good! This ain't GOOD!" The car pressed on its accelerator with all its might. But even with that effort, the missile was still nearing its rear. Then, the missile slowly caught on and exploded in a furious fireball.

"Target hit!" The two jets surveyed the damage done, scanning for signs of survival by flying around the blast site. For a while all seemed quiet bleak. There was nothing but black smoke drifting away and flames burning from the site. The car was nowhere to be found. Perhaps blown to ashes by the explosion.

However, from out of the smoke…

 **VRROOOMMM!**

The little yellow vehicle ran right through the smog, very much still kicking in as it made its way towards the gate. Despite being a little scratched and burnt, it was still able to drive off without any major damage.

Regardless, the two jets resumed their pursuit, speeding on for another run. This time, they soon used a pair of ray blasters to fire purple beams of energy towards the speeding ground vehicle. The car continued to dodge the laser blasts, turning from side to side past the explosions.

Once the car was halfway to its destination, it did the unthinkable. Pushing in its brakes to a sudden stop, it made a complete one-eighty degrees turn to face the aircraft and putting it on full reverse. Then, when it was driving along, it suddenly made an extraordinary move.

It transformed…

The doors opened up. From out of the doors, there were a pair of arms sprouting out of them. The front of the car was flipped to the back to become a pair of legs while the roof flipped the other way into a body. As a final touch, a head popped up to reveal a yellow robot head with small horns sticking out from the sides. Overall, the car became a small-sized robot. After the transformation, the robot dragged along the road with his two feet, slowing him down to a halt.

"Time to pull out the guns!" The robot then used his arms which were transformed into forearm blasters which were instantly charged up and ready to fire.

But as he was about to shoot, the two jets began to descend down on the ground before landing on the ground. Then, the jets too revealed their ability to transform as well. Two arms came out from the sides while the cockpits folded downwards. With the wings flipping down and the thrusters extending to become legs, the heads soon came out as well. The two larger winged robots soon landed on their feet and aimed their shoulder missiles on the yellow robot, firing them afterwards.

As the missiles came by, the nimble little robot warrior jumped over and rolled under them. At the same time, he made his move by firing at his attackers with his dual cannons, with golden blazes of energy being rushed out towards the enemy.

A tense firefight ensued as the two sides tried to gain an edge over the other. The yellow robot leapt from side to side, evading the purple lasers from the winged robots while firing his weapons back. But just when his weapons needed to be reloaded, he quickly took cover behind a pile of debris.

Shielded by his cover, he quickly assembled his weapon clips back to his guns. The two larger enemies continued to fire their own weapons at his position, spreading the fire and pinning him down.

The small bot had to find a way to escape and retreat back to the Decagon, or else his precious cargo would be lost and the cause he was fighting for would be for nothing. Scanning the field while taking cover, he tried to find a way to break out and win one over his foes.

Then, as he looked above the two robots, he saw what appeared to be a dangling load of cargo hanging loosely from a battered crane. The pile of crates suspended with a thin line just right above the duo gave the scout a brilliant idea. One shot on that line should send the whole thing down on the poor combatants. However, he just needed one shot to do the job, and it must be precise, or else, any missed shot would be noticed by the two enemies enough to disperse away from the trap.

Willing to take the risk, he waited for the right time for the enemy to reload their own weapons. Once he saw them tending to their weapons, his chance came.

Quickly taking aim, he hurried out of cover and shot the line attached to the crane. The laser headed right for the target in the speed of light.

 **ZOOOMMM!**

"What?!" But the shot never hit its mark. The laser simply ran past the line without leaving any scratches. A missed opportunity.

And it was about to cost him dearly. The enemy robots were able to notice his move, looking above them to notice their potential plight. Smirking to each other, they soon made their turns to terminate their unlucky target.

To the smaller bot, it was not going to be pretty. Here he was, now on his own and low on ammo as he checked for his mags, only to find empty packs. There was nothing more he could do. Helplessly watching his enemies come by, he backed off a little, awaiting whatever the two taller robots would do to him.

They came over to him, ready to bring the hurt.

 **BOOOMMM!**

"D'ARGH!" Suddenly, another explosion rocked the area in between the two sides, knocking everyone down.

When the small bot fell, he took the time to recover from the fall and his near-death experience before looking up to find where the blasts came from.

His sights were soon on another incoming object in the sky heading right for the battlefield. As it came closer, he could see that it was a larger aircraft. As far as he could see, it was maroon in colour and it had shorter wings with its bulkier body than the two other robots. It had two jet engines on the sides of the plane and below it, there was a longer sabre attached.

But as the plane neared the scene, it also began its own form of transformation quicker than the three robots below could see. The transformation finished as soon as he landed hard on the ground, crouching down on touchdown.

The robot soon rose from his landing to reveal a taller robot towering over the rest, with his wings on his shoulders and the jet engines becoming his legs. His chest was built a little out front resembling another pair of smaller engines. His head was protected by a strong helmet with a pair of antennae from both sides of the top part of it, with his face covered with armour plating in front of his mouth. Held tightly in his right hand, was the sabre now deployed and ready for battle.

As the two bad bots recovered, their desires for torturing the younger bot soon turned to anguish and utter despair as they locked eyes with the newcomer as his blue flashing eyes stared down with cold oil at them.

But with their eagerness for battle, they stood up defiantly and prepared their weapons anyway. The maroon robot was not at all intimated as he saw them readying themselves to fight him. Were they really that idiotic enough to challenge him in battle? They looked so frail and frightened when he showed, and they still had the hardware to stand up to him. Well, he was about to show them.

The blue winged robot grabbed onto his shoulder rocket launcher and quickly aimed it at the target, but the swordsbot remained where he was, still and waiting for the fool to take the shot.

Then, he pulled the trigger. A lone rocket came flying towards the other winged enemy, sidewinding in the hopes of faking him out.

The missile was able to go as far as towards his face, about to blow it up and decapitate him. But as soon as the missile inched really close, it was then spilt in two and sharply separated from its target as the two halves rushed right through him, blowing up behind him.

The shooter displayed a face of panic as he saw his attack missed.

Once the move was finished, the sword-wielder tightened his grip on his sword, eager for retaliation.

"My turn…" To show his might, he swung his sword to the side with massive power. The force of the swing itself was enough to deliver sparks of fear to the enemy robots. Soon, when he was able to see the fear etched in their faces, the swordsbot was ready to make his turn.

He dashed right for the two helpless bots at front and swung his sword at them. The two were able to dodge the slash just in time, giving them some relief. But the fun was just getting started.

Turning around, he saw that the two robots were separated in between the strike made. Seizing the chance, he made it for a vulnerable individual. The purple winged robot was now at his mercy as he swung his blade at him again. Now, it was a direct hit to the chest, slicing through the steel armour with slight difficulty, forcing the victim to clutch the wound which emitted sparks of electricity from a severed circuit.

Just when one strike would be enough to incapacitate the unfortunate warrior, the swordsbot was not done yet. Soon, he was able to launch another powerful strike to the leg, damaging it as well. To top it off, the bot then gave him a nice kick to the stomach section, toppling him down to an almost sorry state.

The other flyer made an attempt to knock out the combatant from behind, joining his fists together to slam him down. Just as he was about to do him in, another powerful shot to his shoulder when the swordsbot was able to detect the sneak attack soon enough to strike back.

Despite his injuries, the purple robot tried to attack again and punched at his opponent, but once again, the swordsbot just did not seem to miss an inch of his foes' moves, catching the fist as hard as iron.

With his shot at his enemy failed, the winged robot tried to break loose, but the fingers jammed it in like a good mousetrap. Worse still, the fingers then started to crush the fist, causing insufferable pain to the poor warrior.

"Okay, I think I've had my fun." Finally, with one strong pull, he threw the helpless bot over to the other enemy and causing quite a crash as one tumbled over the other.

As he finished his throw, he then took a good look at the fallen bunch struggling to get up, which proved to be difficult with one big bot dumped on the other, let alone being injured at the same time.

Once they got up, they stumbled quite roughly after being beaten down in those brief moments. The moment they laid their eyes on their overpowered attacker, they instantly shivered in fear, having no more to do anything about him.

Coming to their senses, they made a run for it, past their foe, and transformed back to their jet forms, although a little shaky from their wounds. They then flew off away to safety, vibrating heavily as they soared clumsily from their defeat.

The jets were now finally out of sight, passing from a tall building nearby. The battle was won. The swordsbot, done with his victory, sheathed the sword behind his back.

Safe and sound, the smaller robot emerged from his hiding place. All the while, he had been watching the battle with awe. If he could call it a battle considering how short the confrontation was.

"WHOO! That's right!" he celebrated. "Take that, you 'Cons! No one messes with the Autobots! Ain't that right, Star Saber?" But as he looked towards his larger companion, all he saw was another stare directed at him. This time, instead of a hostile cold one, it was more of a strict authority matter with his arms crossed. All the same, it was enough to silence the excited Autobot. "Okay… I'm going to shut up now."

"Indeed you will, Bumblebee." spoke Star Saber. "You completely disobeyed orders to infiltrate the supply house. I have sent Victory Leo to do the job."

"I **did** get the fuel rods!" Bumblebee repelled, taking out the cargo he had been carrying the whole time. "And I managed to do so without warning the Decepticon garrison."

"Yeah. Tell that to Skywarp and Thundercracker." Star Saber retorted, referring to the two fighters he had totally wrecked.

"Alright, alright. I may have slipped at some point. But all that matters is that I have the energy rods. You can thank me later."

"How about you start following orders from now on?" Star Saber coldly said before walking back to the Decagon, leaving an upset Bumblebee. He did all the work and managed to secure the precious cargo. And yet he gets the strict treatment. Such was life for an Autobot in the middle of a crisis that was ravaging their home planet.

As he walked back with Star Saber, he carried the fuel rods in his arms.

"And now thanks to you, I've got to call Victory Leo to return back to base. I hope he's not in trouble for your shenanigans."

"Understood, sir." Bumblebee wished to say something, but there was no way to question an Autobot at Star Saber's calibre. He just complied to him and lowered his head in shame.

Just how long more could he be underestimated like this? For all of his time in this conflict, he had been teased on and even bullied for one glaring weakness. His size.

He was always criticized by his small stature that some might think he would be most unsuited for combat. They seemed to have no choice but to place him in the position of a Scout.

After all, there was still some ups to make up for his tiny size. Being one of the fastest Autobots in this division, he could venture off into places quicker than most Decepticons could ever keep up to him. But of course, that freedom to venture could backfire in a sense of carrying out things that were against orders. And being such a youthful being, it was very difficult to control his excitement.

Nevertheless, somehow, he was actually part a huge team. A team of elites.

The two Autobots reached the gate to the Decagon where two large metal doors opened up for their arrival.

"At least you got the fuel rods." admitted Star Saber. "I guess you do deserve the credit." He could not really stay mad at the smaller Autobot for long, especially since he was able to return home with what they needed.

"Uh… thanks." Bumblebee felt a little awkward for the change of mood.

"Just learn to obey orders next time, 'kay?"

"I'll try, sir." With hard feelings behind them, they made their way into the huge but destroyed plaza.

* * *

Once inside the large domed building, the two Autobots were now on their way to the top of the structure via elevator. As they made their way up, Bumblebee was still holding onto the fuel rods he had snatched.

"To think, I'm carrying the last piece of the puzzle." praised Bumblebee. "This is going to make a difference."

"Watch what you say, kid." warned Star Saber. "You may never know when a Decepticon would come snooping around." However, Bumblebee was still acting kind of arrogant.

"Come on, sir. The Decagon is the most secure sector for the Autobots. At least for now. So what are the odds that a Decepticon would even come near this place?"

Soon, the elevator had made a complete stop. The doors in front of them opened and the duo exited the lift towards a huge chambered room. Little did they know, however, that they left behind something peculiar. Or rather… someone…

Up on the ceiling in the lift, an upside-down dome had somehow turned as if it was watching them exit. It then extended a sort of lens from out of its shell, aiming directly at the Autobots.

* * *

Within the huge room, control consoles were everywhere from the ends of the room and the glass dome roof high above revealed nothing more than the stars. In the middle a wide table with a holographic map of the planet was being tended to by a group of more robots who were watching the map.

As Star Saber and Bumblebee approached them, they stood firm and straight in front of the one robot in the middle. That being soon turned around as his attention was caught by their arrival. Standing high above them, this bulky red and blue robot with wheels on the sides of legs and a head with two antennas on the sides and a mouthplate protecting his face, acknowledged their presence with a nod. The other robots in attendance were also standing to face the two Autobots.

First, there was one who was also strongly built, with his red and black build, and a couple of wrist-mounted cannons on his arms. His face had some wrinkle-like patterns coming down it, showing the robot's age as an old-timer.

Second, a white and red Autobot with zig-zag patters on his shoulders and a double-horned crest on top of his head. He had a very similar body to the former Autobot, not to mention the same age, but he seemed more of a doctor given the cross-like and zig-zag patterns on his body.

The last was an Autobot with a feeling of coolness and swag, with a few stripes of blue, red and white on his hood, and a visor covering his eyes. Though smaller than the rest except for Bumblebee, his crossing of his arms seem to signify a sense of authority despite his colourful looks.

At once, all the Autobots faced each other as Star Saber and Bumblebee reported in.

"Optimus Prime, sir." Star Saber addressed to the leader. "I've got some good news and some slight bad news."

"What have you brought us, Saber?" asked the wise leader of the Autobots.

"Well, the good news is, we have the fuel rods needed for the Ark." He then patted Bumblebee on the shoulder, signalling him to move forward to give the rods. The objects were soon handed over to the medic bot known as Ratchet.

"Yes!" He cheered. "These are exactly what we need to finally fuel the Ark and leave Cybertron. I'll deliver these to Wheeljack." He took the fuel rods with him and left the room to attend to business.

"While Ratchet installs the fuel rods, Jazz, Ironhide." Optimus Prime faced the other two beside him. "I need you two to order the evacuation. Tell all of our Autobots at Iacon that we're finally ready to leave. And do so quietly. We don't want to attract aattention from our Decepticon foes."

"You got it, boss." complied Jazz as he and his partner moved out as well. As they left, there was now only the remaining three Autobots.

Or so it seemed…

"Now then, the bad news?" asked Optimus.

"Well, I dunno how to put it, sir." answered Star Saber, before giving Bumblebee a good glare. "Except maybe Bumblebee breaking code to do the job and leading a couple of 'Cons to the Decagon. Now, thanks to that, they might just report to their leader of our whereabouts and bring their forces to attack the plaza."

Bumblebee again could not bring himself to look up. There was only guilt written in his face.

"And may I ask why you did not capture the Decepticons to prevent this, Saber?" Optimus brought a good point as Star Saber was caught by surprise. Maybe he was being a little too carried away with his report.

"Uh, I… Well, sir…" Struggling to find an excuse, his voice was stuttering, causing Bumblebee to grin silently. Now, who's the one up for humiliation?

"There's no cause for alarm, Star Saber. As long as we have managed to secure the fuel rods, we can go our way and Megatron won't have the slightest hint of where we will go." A peaceful solution came to stop the awkward moment as Optimus forgave his comrade with a hand on his panicking shoulder.

"Y-yes, sir. Understood, sir." Then, Prime turned his attention towards Bumblebee.

"What you did out there was brave, Bumblebee." he said to the smaller Autobot. "But do take caution of how you are willing to play a part in our survival."

"Sir?" Bumblebee could not understand what Optimus was trying to implore.

"I know you are strong, Bumblebee. But you did not need to prove it by going out on your own. You could have been destroyed if Star Saber did not come to save you."

The smaller Autobot looked up to the bot in question, who responded with a nod. He then looked back at Optimus.

"I know, sir. But… I just want to help people. It's what I always want to do. Isn't that what we're supposed to do? Be heroes?"

"There's a thin line between being a hero and being a memory, Bumblebee. You cannot allow yourself to jump to conclusions and act on your own. You must learn to assess the situation before choosing to help others. Otherwise, you will not find what you are looking for."

Being a hero and being a memory. That's an advice Bumblebee would learn to heed. Either follow instructions and think before acting, or be destroyed; exist as nothing but a memory.

But as always, if there was any bot that could find a way to touch the very Sparks of Autobots, it was definitely Optimus Prime. He was wise, peace-loving and inspiring, but he could also turn the tide of a battle with his sheer size and strength alone.

He was one of the few who had hope for Bumblebee, willing to bring the little guy into his circle for his bravery. All he needed, however, was control.

Giving Optimus a knowing smile, he nodded understandingly, satisfying the Autobot leader. Star Saber, on the other hand, rolled his eyes, knowing that the little rascal might still pull off a stunt that no one might want to know about.

"Now that we have all we need to bring the Ark online and running, Saber." Star Saber stood at attention. "I need you to go get your forces meant for the infiltration for the fuel rods. Inform them to switch to the defensive back at the Decagon. We'll need all of our brothers if we are to finally be on our way to restoring Cybertron."

"Yes, sir!" At once, Star Saber took to the door and out for his mission.

"Bumblebee." Optimus looked towards his smaller companion. "You'll accompany me. We must rally the rest of the Autobots still here at the Decagon while Ironhide and Star Saber bring back those outside our walls."

"Roger that, sir." At least for now, Bumblebee was able to do something for the big boss as the two left the room to do their part to finally leave their war-torn home.

However, the room was still not left empty for now.

Just when the Autobots left the room, a dome light soon detached itself from the ceiling and was about to drop onto the floor. But instead of breaking, it had managed to transform into something else; extending a pair of wings and with two bird feet and head. The rest of its body was turned into a rectangle to reveal a bird-like robot. It then soared away from the ground and flew itself out of the room, away into the night sky.

* * *

The drone flew away from the Decagon and eventually away from Iacon altogether. After a while, it managed to migrate all the way to another war-torn city on the other side of Cybertron. This city, however, had an ominous dark presence with the city's cracks lit up by glowing purple lights. Skyscrapers were far spikier than those found in Iacon and smelting pools were everywhere, pouring down the city floor.

The drone zoomed past the dark city and into what appeared to be a large palace with four large spikes poking out of the roof. It went into a wide open door on the roof and flew right in.

It then flew into a corridor, eerie and cold, with no one in sight. As it went on, it reached a large pair of sliding doors, which opened up to reveal a similar control room to the one in the Decagon, but was far darker and filled with purple lights. It then soared towards a control console, and began to land on someone who was manning the controls.

It then transformed into a small tape-like device and was grabbed on by the latter robot, whose head was covered by a mouthplate and eyes blocked by a red pair of visor goggles. He had a cylindrical gatling cannon on his right shoulder and a chest panel of glass. On that panel, there was a symbol that was almost similar to the Autobot one, but was far pointier and evil-looking.

The drone-turned device was then inserted inside the computer, for which the robot soon tapped into the cluster of buttons. The screen above was activated to reveal the layouts of a large ship, scanned by the computer itself.

" _ **OBTAINING. AUTOBOT SCHEMATICS FOR ARK CRUISER**_." The robot spoke in a very electronic tone, almost without any emotion, as he continued to operate.

After a minute, the scan was complete.

"Excellent, Soundwave." Soon, the robot was joined by yet another evil presence. A shrivelling high voice was heard from behind him, but Soundwave continued to work without looking back.

Yet, the owner of the voice approached from the shadows to reveal another winged Seeker; red and white unlike the two earlier bots. He cracked a sly grin, elated by the progress made by Soundwave.

"Soon, we shall take aim and obliterate those foolish Autobots before they even leave the system! They thought they could escape the wrath of the Decepticons before we even notice. But they are wrong…" This winged robot walked towards Soundwave, ready to give him an order. "Assemble the troops. It is time we pay those weak little pacifists a little visit!"

"Starscream!" But then, another loud voice echoed through the room. This one, however, was far more menacing, enough to scare the Seeker himself. From the shadows again, emerged a much larger silver Decepticon with a huge cannon attached to his right arm. With his bleeding red eyes, he looked down on the arrogant robot with much cold demeanour. "You shall not give orders around here. **Not** when I, Megatron, am present."

"M-My… My apologies, Lord Megatron." Starscream shivered humbly at his master's presence, almost a complete change from his bold and mighty self. "There is no command… but yours."

But as Megatron walked past him, the Decepticon lieutenant snuck a little sneer from behind Megatron's back. The Decepticon Seeker had always harboured a taste for Decepticon leadership, but was always bested by Megatron's power and image that he always failed to stand up to the leader, forcing him to continue playing the role of suck-up just to maintain his position within the ranks of the Decepticons. One day, he vowed, just one day, he shall have his chance…

"So, Soundwave." The Decepticon leader approached Soundwave, who proceeded to disengage the spy drone from out of the computer as it transformed back to bird mode, perching onto Megatron's arm. "Let us see what Laserbeak has picked up during his reconnaissance mission, and find out what those puny Autobots have in store in their blasted capital."

Soon, the computer screen flickered to reveal the footage of the conversation between the Autobots back at Iacon.

The Decepticons listened in to the talk, paying attention to all the details of the Autobots' plans. What they got was a flurry of information absorbed into their processors, finding out about the plans to evacuate Cybertron aboard a mighty vessel.

"So…" Megatron played his fingers on his chin while smirking evilly at the footage. "Optimus and his band of defunct soldiers are cowering at the face of Megatron. Those fools…"

" _ **WHAT ARE YOUR ORDERS, LORD MEGATRON?**_ " Soundwave stood at attention to his leader, requesting further orders.

"Since Optimus will be moving house, we shall make sure to accompany him on the way out. Only this time, he shall leave… in **PIECES**! HAHAHAHAHA!"

"Then we must mobilize the troops immediately, Lord Megatron!" suggested Starscream.

"For once, Starscream. I concur!" Megatron then assembled the two as they made way for their mission. "But first, if we are to leave Cybertron, then I must assign someone to protect Cybertron from further incursions." He turned towards another computer console on the other side of the room near the exit door. There, he activated it and contacted a figure who appeared on the monitor; a robot purple in colour and with one glowing yellow dot of an eye in the middle of his face and two antennae attached to the sides of his face.

" _Shockwave, reporting for duty, Lord Megatron._ " The robot answered from the other end of the call.

"Shockwave." called Megatron. "Optimus Prime and his Autobots are leaving Cybertron. I must strike while the opportunity is mine. I shall leave Cybertron under your protection until I arrive. Wipe out what and whoever dares to oppose us while I am away."

" _As you command, Lord Megatron! I shall not fail you and defend Cybertron at all costs! Long live the Decepticons! Shockwave, out!_ " The call ended before Megatron and his two officers headed for the door on their way to incite more fear to the Autobots. Optimus Prime was not going anywhere, not on Megatron's watch!

* * *

Back at Iacon, in a hallway full of Autobots working around, carrying crates, helping others and what not, Optimus Prime and Bumblebee were both supervising the whole evacuation of their fellow bots. They walked along the hallway, sometimes bumping into fleeing passers-by along the way.

The whole area was a mess, with bots running here and there, carelessly moving around hoping to finally escape millions of years of endless war. However, it was a problem that Optimus wished to solve, not allowing fear to take over their minds.

"Stay calm, Autobots!" Optimus called upon his soldiers, who all stopped moving about or panicking to hear their leader speak to them; a common yet amazing feat only a Prime can do. "Do not panic. Megatron and his Decepticons do not know we are about to embark on our exodus. Allow yourselves to slowly take your time and pick up what you need. We shall depart soon enough and find a solution to this war. May Primus guide us all."

Optimus had concluded his inspiring speech, and to that effect, it worked tremendously. Everyone had their spirits raised and went about at a more peaceful pace.

Bumblebee grew amazed at Optimus' ability to inspire others. It was this power and leadership that allowed the Autobots to win over numerous battles, and now it was used to save them from extinction.

As time went by, the Autobots had vacated the area, leaving behind Optimus and Bumblebee; the two walking the other way they went before, after gathering up their comrades throughout the rest of the plaza.

"I guess we're done here, sir." stated Bumblebee.

"Now we must await Star Saber's arrival." said Optimus as he and Bumblebee went to a balcony to watch out for the last Autobot team to return home.

Then, from the distance, they saw a group of bots coming in from the far side of the city.

Star Saber and his strike team had returned home, zooming over the city and heading towards Optimus. As they arrived, they transformed into their robot modes and stood firm in front of their leader.

"Sir, that's the last of them, sir." reported Star Saber. "You sure there aren't any more of us still out there?"

"The announcement had been given to all Autobots and it should have gotten their attention by now." explained Optimus. "Every Autobot must comply with the orders given."

"Even Kup and his Dyno Bot team? You know how stubborn those bots can be."

"Rest assured that they have booked in and are ready to depart as well. Now without delay, we must embark." Signalling to his Autobots, the group had all walked together on their way to finally leave their home planet.

* * *

After nearly a Mega Cycle later, the surface was still as silent as it could be. Not a single sign of activity was seen from orbit.

But then, just as it was about to continue being quiet, there was a sudden boom which echoed throughout the quiet world. Then, a brilliant flash brightened up the darkened city of Iacon as a booming powerful burst of rocket fuel blasted a ship far away into the planet's atmosphere.

A large golden ship burst from out of the city and away into the sky. It was not long before the mighty ship blasted its way into space and the unknown.

This was the Autobot ship of power and hope that was the Ark. The Autobots', and Cybertron's, last hope for the planet's restoration and an end to the war.

* * *

Inside the ship, a lone Bumblebee watched on as he looked upon his home from afar, moving further and further away as the ship he was in left. There was a long-lasting feeling of sorrow within his Spark. Cybertron was his home, like so many others. Although he was built during the time of the dreaded civil war between the Autobots and the Decepticons, the young Scout still felt like Cybertron was the home he wanted to save. He desired to live in a time like that of the Golden Age where Cybertronians lived in peace and prosperity, and was willing to fight for such a dream. But now, ever since Optimus declared the plan to leave the planet, his dream started to look bleak, unsure if such an idea was going to save Cybertron.

However, as always, Optimus Prime was someone who shared Bumblebee's desire, as well as many other Autobots, and he was the leader they knew would finally bring an end to the war and bring back Cybertron to its former glory.

So, with full respect and faith in his leader, Bumblebee held on to his hope as long as Optimus Prime led his bots to battle.

After having seen enough, the yellow bot walked away from the window and back into the command bridge.

* * *

Bumblebee walked into the bridge where many Autobots were going around managing in their stations, sitting at the control consoles working through computers, carrying around supplies for the long trip and more.

While he was in there, he could see Optimus Prime sitting on his command chair in the middle of the chamber. He was talking to Ironhide, who was speaking to him like they were good buddies; friendly in their conversation.

"Hahahah!" The two chuckled over a little joke old Ironhide cooked up for the leader. With the fun over then, the old bot went back to work while Optimus returned to leading his men through the stars and on their long journey. Then, the leader soon noticed Bumblebee walking up to him.

"Bumblebee." He called. "You seem troubled." When Optimus took notice of Bumblebee's sad look, the little bot knew he had to tell what was in his mind.

"Yeah… I was kinda worried…"

"About Cybertron?" Optimus further asked.

"Yeah…"

"Do not fear, Bumblebee. I understand that leaving our home is not easy. It never would be. All of the Autobots here share your concern. But once we find a way to restore Cybertron back to what it should have been millions of years ago, we shall return." Optimus looked back to his men at front while Bumblebee walked on back to his post.

The young bot was finally able to muster a smile after Optimus' inspiring words. He was so sure he had made the right choice depending on this remarkable warrior as his leader. Cybertron will be saved in no time with someone like Optimus Prime in command.

"Besides, I have a plan to make sure Cybertron remains quiet while we are gone…"

* * *

For a while, the Ark was on its way to the stars and out to find that one power that could save their entire planet. The crew on board, fully spirited and awaiting the success of their long voyage, were also practically relaxed with their mission, sure that their Decepticon adversaries were very much unaware that all of this went unnoticed until it was too late. There was no way they could ever react on time before the Ark could warp away into space.

Would there?

* * *

Optimus could finally take it easy and relax, envisioning the beginning of a new Cybertron where there would be no war and no suffering. Just peace and prosperity for all Cybertronians.

But then…

 **BBBOOOMMM!**

"What?!" The whole bridge began to shake violently after a loud boom shook everyone's audio receptors with an explosion that rocked the entire ship. The entire crew present stumbled around as the loud bang shook the entire interior, absolutely shocked after what had happened.

"What's going on?!" shouted Sonic Bomber, one of the pilots flying the ship.

But then, as everyone tried to fathom what had happened, another powerful blast hit the ship on the left wing, which was visible by the crew.

When Optimus looked at that very moment, he saw something that he dreaded him. Something he wished he would never see. A purple fiery laser bolt.

"No…"

* * *

Behind the Ark under fire, the attacker was pursuing the golden ship as it fired more of its purple lasers at it.

The large, rough spiked and dark ship shaped like the tip of a spear made a dashing chase from the planet like a torpedo, firing its way towards the Autobot ship with barrages of its laser projectiles.

Within the ship's bridge just on top of its hull, there was someone who was waiting for the opportunity to finally storm the ship and deal with the Autobots once and for all.

Sitting above his throne, the infamous and tyrannical Megatron was watching the enemy ship being fired upon by his own ship, smirking as he awaited full victory against the Autobots. Only then would his desire for Cybertron conquest be fully complete.

"Full course, Decepticons! Prime thinks he could cower away from Cybertron without our knowledge, but he shall now bear witness to the ultimate victory of the Decepticons!"

The _Nemesis_ continued to fire at the Ark until flames came out of the areas hit hard by the lasers.

* * *

"Sir! We've just lost power to the shields!" reported Star Saber. "We're being hit hard at the hull already!"

"Maintain flight pattern! We must reach the coordinates to the Space Bridge before Megatron takes us apart!" commanded Optimus Prime.

"Seekers inbound!"

One of the Autobots looked out the window to find a squadron of Decepticon fighters zooming to the front of the Ark to intercept it. As the formation came right in front of the bridge glass, it fired a barrage of missiles heading right for the room.

"Everyone! Take cover!" All the bots in the room braced for impact, jumping away from the viewing glass. The missiles broke through the glass and sped right for the end of the room, blasting the entire area with a rocking explosion, which ended up blowing some of the unfortunate Autobots within the line of fire.

But after the glass had shattered, it made a powerful suction force which sucked in everything in the room. Some more generic Autobots began to fly out the hole in the window, helplessly being flung out into the empty darkness of space, screaming along the way. Those who were strong enough held on to anything they could for dear life as the vacuum pulled them.

"CLOSE THE BLAST DOORS!" Ironhide yelled out. Immediately, fighting the force of the vacuum, an Autobot slowly pushed towards the button on the far end of the room. After a while, he managed to reach it, but was now facing the full force pushing him away from the button. Again, a few more seconds and eventually, he slammed it down.

Afterwards, the viewing cockpit was soon covered up as large panels covered up the whole glass panels, shielding the Autobots from being sucked out. The panels closed, blocking all view from the bridge. Fortunately, the pulling force of the vacuum had faded. Everyone dropped back down with gravity restored.

"Status report?" With the situation now under control, Optimus called upon his crew.

"Not good, sir." reported Sonic Bomber. "Shields have been crippled and our left wing is damaged. What I'm worried about right now are the fuel tanks there. We'll be running out of power in no time if we keep letting those 'Cons blast us repeatedly."

"Then I need bots out there to defend the fuel tanks before the Decepticons break this ship apart. Brainmasters." He called to a trio of other smaller Autobots. "Guard those tanks at all costs."

The three bots saluted as they ran to their posts.

"In the meantime, Autobots." He then turned to the rest of the bots in the room. "We have to defend the Ark from the Decepticons. This is our last chance to save Cybertron. Let's roll out!"

At once, everyone complied to Optimus' command, rushing to their stations and preparing to arm themselves against the Decepticon threat.

"The Decepticon warship's moving to broadside position, sir!" reported Jazz. "They're going to fire another volley at us, for sure."

"No, Jazz." corrected Optimus. "I've got a feeling that this is another type of approach. If my gut feeling is correct, then it means…" Then, he had the suspicion that a certain tyrant would be involved in hunting him down. An old enemy who had been fighting him throughout the war and was now about to launch another vicious attack just to find him.

"Megatron… He's going to board the ship…"

* * *

Walking along the corridor towards a huge hangar bay filled with battle-ready soldiers and pilots, the large bulky body of Megatron moved to gather his men for an all-out assault on the Ark.

The moment he approached the hangar bay, he then noticed a sudden commotion happening inside the bay. As he descended down to the lower floor, he saw a green Seeker flying right in the room, smoke and fire burning at his wing tip. It then transformed into robot mode and landed hard on the floor, seemingly in pain.

The Seeker with the dragon helmet could not get up as he was forced to sit on the floor tending to the wound. He raised his head up to see his menacing leader glaring down on him.

"F-Forgive me, Lord Megatron!" He fearfully spoke up. "But the Autobots' defences were crippling us out there!"

Megatron remained silent while still staring at the cowering Seeker. Then, all of a sudden, the Decepticon leader, in cold oil, grabbed the wounded Seeker by the throat and lifted him up. The Seeker choked from the vice grip while displaying a frightful face.

"Who gave you the order to launch an assault without **my** permission, Leozack?!" Megatron rebuked with a face of anger.

" _ **LORD MEGATRON**_." The low buzzing sound of Soundwave's voice caught his attention. " _ **SEEKER ASSAULT, UNAUTHTORIZED. COMMAND SENT BY STARSCREAM.**_ "

Megatron did not speak again, but decided to drop that useless Seeker down on the ground. Leozack fell on his bottom while gasping for air. Megatron then proceeded to walk back up and towards wherever that sorry excuse for an Air Commander could be.

"Of course… That lousy glitch…"

As he approached to another hangar bay just next door, he spotted what appeared to be Starscream pointing and shouting out commands like a loose cannon, simply sending them to their pre-emptive destruction.

While he walked towards the reckless moron, he watched as more fools transform and launch themselves without his own say.

"Go now, Seekers!" Starscream screamed at his troops as each and every one of them flew off out of the hangar, oblivious to Megatron's presence. "Blow that Autobot ship and let their pitiful existence cease to… **ACCKKK!** "

Again, Megatron resulted to a chokehold on Starscream's neck, lifting him up as he stared up with his deadly glare.

"Did I not warn you, that **no one** gives the orders around here but Megatron?!" the powerful yelling continued, and Starscream began to cough and desperately gasp while having his circuits riddle in fear. Not willing to waste time dealing with such an incompetent fool, Megatron gave Starscream a last warning before throwing him down hard.

"The next time I catch you commanding troops behind my back, I shall not hesitate to tear you apart!"

Megatron soon left the bumbling Decepticon down on the floor, walking back to his usual business.

As the leader disappeared from his sights, Starscream shook his head from his traumatic punishment of disobedience. AS he recovered, he growled in anger. Once again, Megatron had humiliated him in front of all of his troops. Just how was he going to excel to power if Megatron was tossing him around like a ragdoll everywhere at every time? He gritted his teeth and groaned. He swore that Megatron would indeed pay for this embarrassment.

In the meantime, Megatron was on his way to another part of the ship, where there were several circular doorways leading to small tube rooms. Decepticon soldiers began flooding into these rooms while their leader began inspecting them as he walked on.

He then stopped at one of the rooms and turned to walk into it, accompanied by more soldiers, including one which walked by his side. He was a Decepticon with a huge cannon behind on his back facing upwards, as well as an unusual assortment of features. Wings on his back and tank threads at the sides of his legs.

"Lord Megatron!" the bot called. "This will surely be a glorious moment to finally defeat Optimus Prime!"

"Indeed it is, Blitzwing." agreed Megatron. "It will be the end of their pitiful pestilence. Prepare the boarding parties!" He then commanded those outside the room to close the doors of the rooms. Soon, once closed, the rooms then shook as large tubes with claws at the end outside the ship were fired onto the Autobot ship.

Those rooms were actually boarding tubes and the Decepticons inside were ready to board.

* * *

The Ark continued to be blasted at with cannon fire from the Nemesis and missiles from the Seeker squadrons. One missile eventually reached through the ship's defences and blew up a chunk of the hull.

At one of the corridors lined by walls with windows overlooking the battle in space, Bumblebee was speeding across the area in car mode, desperate to help out against the Decepticons.

"Gotta get to the fuel tanks!" He rushed to the door where he would come outside to the surface of the ship and aid any Autobots attempting to defend their last hope.

However, as soon as he was about a few metres away from the door, a sudden crashing sound was heard.

"WHOA!" Bumblebee was suddenly rocked and thrown off to the wall on the left, forcing him to transform into robot mode. A large claw pierced right for the glass, latching onto the holes with the sharp points all over its circumference, revealing a four-panel circular door.

Bumblebee recovered from his tumble across the wall to find that threatening sight of the claw attached to the wall. But what was even more worrying being the doors that opened up. Inside, he could pick up a few glowing red eyes flashing dimly inside the room staring down on him.

Then, from out of the chambers, a group of well-built and dangerous-looking brutes of Decepticons burst out, ready to bring the hurt on the Autobots. They set their sights at their first victim; the lone little scout. He slammed a hammer weapon to the ground to show off against the smaller bot. Judging by Bumblebee's size, the brute immediately assumed that this was going to be an easy kill.

Bumblebee got back up and saw the Decepticons coming right at him. However, instead of being intimidated, the scout immediately went to work.

The Decepticon, followed by his fellow troopers, engaged Bumblebee, starting with the former lifting his hammer at him. However, as he slammed it down on the ground, releasing a ton of force that cracked the ground, Bumblebee slid right underneath the hammer and right under the Decepticon's legs, catching the others behind by surprise.

Then, once behind everyone, Bumblebee jumped up and converted his hand into a gun barrel and fired at the group down below, spraying down a shower of bullets which stunned the soldiers by using their arms to shield themselves from the blasts.

As he landed down, he took the chance and extended a laser blade from his hand while the enemy was still pinned. They looked at the charging Autobot too late before he jumped forward and lunged his sword out at one of them, stabbing him right into his chest. Once the blade separated from the body in a deadly pull, the robot, sparking electricity on his wound, fell down on the floor. His eyes stopped glowing as he became a lifeless husk of metal.

"Scratch one!" Bumblebee gloated as he prepared to take on the rest of the Decepticons. Having learnt their lesson, they came at him altogether. They tried to catch the bot with their hands, but the Autobot again evaded them, rolling to the side.

The confusion allowed Bumblebee to again strike another Decepticon from behind, but the slash at the back only grazed through the metal plating which prompted the target to turn around to find the rascal.

Bumblebee was caught in his sights, but loading up his blaster for another run, he made no haste to fire upon the gang again. However, when he pulled the trigger, one of the Decepticons was able to catch him on the foot and pulled him towards his face. Then, with one push, he tossed the poor Autobot to the wall, hurting his back in the process.

The Autobot was thrown against wall so hard that he was unable to move his body for long, forcing to land down on the floor and stayed there for a good while.

Satisfied with their move, the Decepticons made their advance towards the fallen Autobot. One charged up his weapon and aimed it at Bumblebee.

The scout was able to look up, but that was all the good he could do. Watching helplessly, he hoped for a miracle to happen. Just where is backup when you need one?

Just as the Decepticon was about to open fire…

 **BWUIIMM!**

A shot was fired. Bumblebee opened his eyes to find out that apparently, he survived. When he looked at his foes to see what had happened, there he saw a decapitated body, with its neck socket jolting with sparks.

The headless body then fell to the ground, horrifying the other Decepticons. When they tried to find out who had fired the shot…

 **SLASSHHH!**

Another Decepticon was severed in half by a swift strike to the stomach, separating the upper torso from the legs as both parts fell hard to the ground.

The horrified Decepticons eventually tried to look at their attacker, but then they too were dealt with. Two more shots to their heads sealed the deal, ending the scuffle.

Bumblebee struggled to get up, but when he looked, he saw his savior. A swordsbot in a finished strike pose looking away coldly from the wreckages he left behind. Once again, Star Saber had come to his rescue. But he was not the only one.

Bumblebee turned around and saw another Autobot with a forearm sniper cannon coupled with a shield attachment on his wrist. It was Jazz, who blew the smoke out of the barrel.

"You okay, BB?" he called before giving Bumblebee a lift.

"Y-yeah…" Bumblebee got up with Jazz's help, but his injury had kept him from maintaining a proper standing. "I'll l-live." Then, he saw Star Saber walking towards him while sheathing his weapon. He stepped right past the yellow bot, not bothering to look out for him to say the least.

"Do I have to stick up to your neck every time?" was all he said before walking further back to the bridge. Bumblebee gave a silent scoff. He was baffled as to why Star Saber was always being such a jerk whenever he would see him. Why was he such a blowhard? Does he not care for his own teammates' safety? Sure he saved his life, but was he really going to be so harsh with his words? For all he knew, that was probably the response he'll get as a 'you're welcome' gesture.

However, there was no time to be pondering. Right now, another explosion rocked the ship; a rude reminder of the desperate situation they were in.

"Come on, Bee!" Jazz called out to the younger bot. "We gotta help Prime!"

"Prime?" asked a worried Bumblebee. "What happened?"

"Word just got in that he's engaged with his ol' buddy!"

"His ol' buddy?" Then, Bumblebee remembered something off about Jazz's statement. If Optimus was engaged with someone seemingly associated with him, then it could mean one thing…

"Megatron!"

"Let's kick it or lose it!" They both transformed to car mode and sped off towards the bridge to aid their leader.

* * *

Surely enough, when they arrived, there they saw them. Optimus Prime staring right down at his old adversary.

For centuries, these two powerful leaders had been in each other's' necks ever since. Never a brutal battle goes by without seeing them duel one another. Their fights had almost always determined the fate of each battle they fought in, and since then, they became bitter enemies. It was hard to imagine that before the war, they were brothers.

"Megatron…" Optimus sneered.

"Ah… Prime." Megatron walked around his foe, only for the latter to do the same.

All around them, there was already another massive brawl between Autobots and Decepticons, as each of Optimus and Megatron's forces battled to determine this seemingly final battle. Star Saber was among the combatants slicing through foot soldiers along the way.

Everything was at stake for both sides. If the Autobots win, they'll have their chance of fleeing Cybertron to find their new solution to restore the planet. If they don't, then it's finally over for them as Megatron and his tyrannical Decepticons would conquer Cybertron and make it a vessel for their future crusades across the known cosmos.

"This ends now!" Optimus threw himself up from his feet and ran straight towards Megatron, only for the Decepticon leader to draw out his wrist-mounted Fusion Cannon at him and fired. A huge and powerful laser of purple energy streaked right for the Autobot leader. Fortunately, he barely dodged the blast and charged at his adversary, becoming locked in a fist fight with him; a usual sight to see if you ever fought alongside Optimus Prime or Megatron.

"Cybertron will NOT be yours, Megatron!" declared Optimus. "You won't be causing anymore suffering and destruction. The war must end! Cybertron must live on!"

"I agree, Prime!" mocked Megatron. "Although, I agree, on **some** of your terms."

As the fists flew and the kicks swung, Optimus and Megatron both tried to gain an advantage over the other. But then, after a few minutes of fighting, Megatron was able to pick up Optimus in the air and threw him at a control console.

"Oh no!" Bumblebee cried out as he spectated the epic battle.

With Optimus injured from the fall, he ran for him and raised his fist, swinging it at Prime. The Autobot managed to recover and dodged the punch. With Megatron missing the hit, he countered with a fist to Megatron's face, sending the startled Decepticon flying towards to the other end of the room.

Rubbing his head from the brutal pain he had suffered, Optimus got back up and walked towards the wounded Decepticon tyrant.

"Give up, Megatron!" demanded Optimus as Megatron struggled to get back up. "This is your last warning!" But as Megatron managed to rise up, he looked down in mock defeat before giving the hero a mischievous smirk. Before Optimus could react, however…

"NEVER!" Megatron got up with all his might and swung both of his arms at Optimus, sending him hurling towards the flight controls. And with that massive hit to the head, his balance once got back up had been downed tremendously.

" _WARNING! WARNING!_ " Suddenly, the ship was buzzing with the loud echoing voice of its main computer, Teletraan 1, which started to alert everyone inside that the ship was out of control as evident by the violent shaking and flashing red lights illuminating throughout the whole room. Five minutes later, the ship began rocking, blazing fire from almost everywhere.

"The ship is out of control!" Optimus ran to the controls to see if he could repair or even manage them, but then, he did not get the chance. In a final blow, he was blasted at the back by Megatron.

"OPTIMUS!" There was nothing Bumblebee could do but watch as his leader was befallen by his long-time enemy. His back was scarred with a big hole with a small flame bursting out of the wound. He fell to the floor as some of the other Autobots watched in horror.

Triumphant, the battered Megatron walked victoriously over his defeated foe.

"Megatron." Optimus gasped with every breath, unable to move at all as Megatron moved closer in a killing mood.

"This time it **really** is…" said Megatron, proudly. Finally, after centuries of conflict, it was time to say…

"…GOODBYE, OPTIMUS PRIME!" As Megatron aimed his cannon at Prime, Optimus could only look helplessly as the cannon was ready to fire.

" _ **LORD MEGATRON!**_ " Suddenly, Soundwave, who was still in the _Nemesis_ , interrupted Megatron via comm-link.

"What is it, Soundwave?!" responded Megatron, with a strict voice, angry that his victory was abruptly halted.

" _ **EXPERIENCING SOME TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES IN THE**_ _ **NEMESIS**_ _ **. ENGINES CRIPPLED FROM UNKNOWN SOURCE. MUST WITHDRAW**_ _!_ "

"No, Soundwave! My victory is near! I am one step closer in annihilating Optimus…" But as Megatron was gloating away, there was just one more surprise. He could hear some small rustling coming from underneath him and believe or not, Optimus was looking up, angry himself with his fist clenched.

"It's over, Megatron!" yelled Optimus, as he launched a mega punch of his own right at Megatron's face. It happened as if it was in slow motion as Megatron fell to the ground.

Both leaders were now on the ground, heavily injured from their confrontation. Megatron dragged himself closer to Optimus, still obsessed with his temptation to destroy his foe. Optimus himself could not do anything after losing his strength from that last punch.

Before they could do anything, before they could stand up, the unfortunate began to happen.

"Huh?" As Star Saber fought on, something happened that he could not fathom.

Out of nowhere, in front of the ships, there was a blink of light in the stars. Soon, that blink flashed up and opened to form a massive wormhole.

"What the-?! A space bridge?" Unable to do anything to break free, the ships moved closer to the hole, rocking more violently from the force of the impending entity. Soon, from outside the tubes from the Nemesis could hold no more, forcefully detached from the Ark. This had left most of Megatron's stranded in the _Ark_.

"No. NO!" shouted Megatron as he too realized what was happening before his very eyes.

The whole interior was shaking so badly as if an earthquake hit. Everyone braced for impact, except for some who carried on the fight. The front protective panels of the bridge windows broke away from the force of the wormhole and the vacuum of space began sucking everything out again, from tiny chunks of debris to unfortunate soldiers.

Soon, the two ships began to enter the hole itself, pulled into what appeared to be a colourful tunnel of blinding light. Once they got in, the hole started to shrink as it swallowed up the ships whole. The force from the pull had actually damaged the ships, breaking them apart as they entered. Finally, after fully devouring them in, the hole, in the blink of an eye, vanished.

* * *

The ships were helplessly swinging round and around, slowly being dismantled into pieces as they were violently being thrown into this mysterious vortex.

Within the Ark, the fighting had somehow ceased with now both sides, from fighting each other, were now fighting against the violent and unstoppable forces of gravity, trying to stay on the ship.

The two leaders grabbed on to Optimus' command chair. However, losing his strength, Megatron had lost his grip and slipped away, but not before grabbingon to Prime's leg. The Autobot did everything he could to release himself of Megatron, kicking him in the face, but the tyrant held on tightly.

"If I am to be sucked away into the vastness of space! I'm taking you with me!" yelled Megatron. With Megatron's unshakable resolve, Optimus was losing his grip, struggling to shake off Megatron. Finally, after a moment of struggle, he could hold no more.

"Indeed, Megatron…" He let his fingers open up let go and allowed himself to be thrown off the chair and eventually out the window, sending the two of them hurling into the vortex.

"PRIME! NO!" cried Bumblebee, as he and others watched as their leaders vanished. The little scout held on tight to the door as he was being shaken around. Then, there was no sign of life. Optimus Prime and Megatron were no more.

"No…" Star Saber, holding on to a control console, silently mourned. He could not believe his eyes. The most important battle of their lives was about to be determined right here on this very bridge. In the end, it ended up being a draw that seemed to had costed the lives of both leaders. The Autobots and Decepticons were now leaderless.

* * *

In the bridge of the Nemesis, which itself was breaking apart from the inside, Starscream had just returned from his dogfights with the Autobots. He stood atop the front stage of the bridge, watching two familiar bodies being hurled into the vortex. He looked down, with sorrow.

"It is now a dark day for the Decepticons. Our leader, Megatron's spark has been extinguished."

However, as he raised his head, he let out an evil grin. It turned out that he was only shedding crocodile tears.

"All. Hail. Starscream!" He laughed out loud to his Spark's content, proclaiming himself as the new leader of the Decepticons. At last, he was able to rid himself of Megatron and rise up to the Decepticon throne.

* * *

It happened all so suddenly. The ships had been tossed around in a vortex for a long while, with everyone in their ships unable to regain control of the flight patterns.

But then, when all was said and done, the ships had come across the end of the ride, popping through another wormhole which had jettisoned them out and putting back to normal space again.

However, since their tumultuous ride through the vortex, the ships were so badly damaged that they were now hurling around to who knows where.

Soon, the ships were being drifted away, speeding towards what appeared to be a blue planet with green continents and a smaller white moon orbiting it.

Back in the Nemesis, as he was enjoying his ascension, Starscream turned around to address his new underlings. But when he faced to find the control crew, he noticed that all of the Decepticons have left the bridge.

"Where did everyone go?!"

As he was basking in his delusional glow, everyone, including Soundwave had rushed to the safety of escape pods. From the viewing glass, he could see several pods being shot out of the ship and to safety from ending up who knows where.

Just when his troubles were getting worse, Starscream could see that the ship he was in, now empty, was being thrown of its course and into the moon. The Nemesis was now at its critical point and any crash was bound to completely destroy it, taking with it anyone foolish enough to remain inside.

"AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!" the new leader screamed as the ship finally reached the moon and crashed into the surface, breaking apart into several pieces. Starscream just never stood a chance and was taken out with the ship. So much for being leader now…

* * *

"Ratchet! The _Ark's_ systems are fading! We're losing altitude!" yelled Sonic Bomber. The Ark was also being hurled away. This time, however, it was flying out of control and was now heading for the bigger planet. Thankfully, the Ark was now at level for everyone to walk again, but time was running out.

"I can see that, Sonic Bomber!" replied Ratchet. The ship was making a steep descent in for the planet's atmosphere.

"Quick, everyone. Into the stasis pods!" Star Saber quickly rallied the Autobots as they all rushed out of the bridge and into their only hope for survival. The Autobots left some of the Decepticons still on board and made a dash to their stasis pods, leaving them to their impending doom.

They all reached to several rooms which all they contained rows of stasis pods. Each Autobot opened up the pods and buckled up inside of them. Upon entry, a form of gas enveloped as the pods closed with the Autobots inside, knocking them out into stasis lock.

With everyone asleep, the ship was now entering the atmosphere, being burnt into a fireball as the frictional force of the layers tore the ship apart. Eventually, it was able to pass through the atmosphere, but it was now still on its way to crash.

Soon, the Ark was on a collision course for a wide-open area of ocean as it slowly made its way downwards. Finally, upon contact with the water, it violently smashed into the ocean, flipping upwards before coming back down flat. After crashing, the Ark began to sink slowly into the deep blue sea.

However, everyone, in their stasis pods, was still intact, though some who weren't probably weren't so lucky. The ship began to drop deeper to the darkest depths of the ocean, with the remaining survivors trapped inside their stasis pods, dormant.

However, far away from the Ark, there was a chunk of the ship that had landed closer to a nearby island, where it would eventually sink into a much shallower depth.

Inside the discarded piece, there was a room in it. It was another stasis pod chamer, which contained only three pods. And in these pods, laid the dormant remains of three of the Autobots.

Star Saber.

Jazz.

And Bumblebee.

Only time could tell when they would resurface.

But without a leader, the Autobots were at a disadvantage, and should the war begin again, they would probably have more downs than ups. However, with Megatron gone as well, the Decepticons would probably have nowhere to go as well. For now, the remains of the Ark laid deep under the sea, stuck at the seabed, rusting away as millions of years went by.

* * *

 **And finally, I've completed the first chapter of this rebooted story! I hope I've written and added enough for this new and improved fanfic, and that you enjoyed it.**

 **Definitely happy to be coming back to this fanfic. My very first one that deserves to be revived with better story-telling and better development.**

 **Please do leave some much needed feedback to see if I've made improvements from the old story and maybe drop a favourite or follow? Yes?**

 **HAHAHA!**

 **But as always guys, thanks so much for reading and I shall catch you all in the Digital World next chapter!**

 **And now, to answer some of the leftover reviews from the old story!**

 **Seeker3:**

 **Indeed. Although I did leave out some individuals from the last first chapter, they probably will or will not come back. Who knows? Thanks for the support too! But you'll have to wait and see what happens next XD**

 **Frankthettriviaman:**

 **As always, you've got my back every time and I'm more than happy to accept your backing. Thanks for your everlasting support**

 **Yokai Watch:**

 **Whoa! That's a lot of requests! But I will be frank that I am only including Generation 1 (with both US and Japanese characters), although there might be some characters from the other universes who will make an appearance sometime in the future. So stay tuned!**


	2. Coming of the Storm

**Chapter 2: Digital Crisis Abound**

 _ **-Four million years later-**_

A world was teeming with lush rainforests and oceans and even deserts and glacial poles of all sorts of places. All was quiet and peaceful in this land as creatures of numerous kinds all roamed the world without any worries.

But within an area of grassy hills, darkness loomed. Up on the tallest hill, a tall black tower stood erected over the otherwise peaceful land. Its presence was accompanied by the spreading of black spores drifting all around it from base to its pyramid-shaped tip.

Any creature who neared could feel the effects these spores had on them, felt with a chilling and eerie feeling that could only be described as evil. These dark spires were a stark contrast to everything that this world thrived for.

However, as luck would have it, this spire was not going to stand tall for long.

" **V-LASER!** " The tower was hit with a powerful X-shaped laser cutting right through the spire and severing it into pieces.

Black soot-like dust burst out from the damage as the tower began to break apart at the tip. The tip crashed down on the grass as it disintegrated into nothing.

Up in the sky, the one creature, a blue dragon with a silver horn on its nose and white wings behind its back, who fired the blast flapped its wings as it surveyed the damage done. Behind him was a human with messy hair, a pair of goggles wrapped around his head and a navy blue jacket with flames. Grinning sheepishly at the creature, he looked at how the tower was still standing despite being cracked.

"Gee, Ex-Veemon…" He rubbed the back of his head. "You could've wiped it off from the bottom, then whole thing comes tumbling down."

"Don't blame me." snapped back Ex-Veemon. "My attacks are usually the bomb. Maybe I'm just hungry from all this flying."

"Dude, you're always hungry."

"Quit playing around, you guys!" Suddenly, the two were joined by a loud and rough female voice coming from their left. They found, as they turned, to find a girl just about the boy's age with round-framed glasses and a pilot helmet above her long purple hair. Her attire consisted of a beige army vest with a purple shirt with long sleeves up to her wrist worn underneath it, a pair of red jeans, and her hands covered in a pair of white gloves.

She was riding on top of a large red bird with a head of white feathers and two dark horns shaped like those of a ram.

"Hey! It's not like we're not trying, Yolei!" spat the boy.

"Yeah… Not trying to actually destroy the spire." Yolei shot back at him. "Seems to me like you boys are just showing off."

"Well, it's not my fault we're so cool with these slick attacks." The goggle-headed boy tried to be all proud.

"Yeah, Davis is the coolest guy around!" praised Ex-Veemon.

"Then why aren't there anyone cheering on you?" Suddenly, Yolei delivered a heart-wrenching insult before flying down to finish the job, leaving behind a bewildered Davis Motomiya to groan in frustration.

As her bird partner swooped towards the broken spire, he powered up his horns as they glowed to a bright red aura surrounding them.

" **GRAND HORN**!" The horns then fired a raging line of lasers towards the spire's base. The lasers cut right through the structure as fast as a comet.

The faulty structure now began to give way as it bent down and was about to fall to the ground. As the spire split up, it crashed onto the ground so hard that it eventually broke off just as its tip did, blasted into dust.

Eventually, all that was left was the bottom stump of the spire. But even that was not going to stay for long.

" **ROCK CRACKING!** " Suddenly, from under the ground, the earth began to shake violently as a set of drills bored its way out of the dirt and piercing right into the remains of the spire, destroying them and completing the destruction of the tower.

Once done, the drills dug the ground out and out of the large crater, a bulky beetle-like monster with six limbs and the drills attached in the main hands and his nose. He also had two very short wings, which looked useless considering their size and the creature's big build.

"Way to go, Digmon!" Then, a rather quiet and shy voice, but still sounded confident as best as it could, was heard, with the beast being complimented by the praise. The voice came from a smaller boy with short hair and was wearing a beige tunic dropping down to his short knees, with a collar wrapped around with a red line.

"Just doin' what diggers to best, Cody!"

"Now that's how you take care of a Control Spire, Davis." Yolei teased the boy again, earning a disgruntled huff from him.

With the dark Control Spire toppled, the giant flyers landed back on the ground, dropping off their human partners down. The human children then all converged together. Just then, their huge creatures soon began to glow in a bright yellow light before shrinking down to size. When the light vanished, they were revealed to have been transformed into smaller less dangerous-looking creatures; a humanoid-lizard creature of blue skin with a tiny horn sticking out of his snout, a smaller red bird with a feather strapped into a black sash around his forehead; and a golden armadillo with a purple underbelly. AS they spoke, their voices had also changed to more youthful tones.

"Well. Looks like our work here's done, everybody!" The blue creature, Veemon, cheered, before holding his stomach. "Can we go eat now?"

"Yeah." The armadillo critter named Armadillomon agreed, speaking with a Texan accent. "I've been cramming for somethin' sweet and crunchy."

"You and your obsessions for Earth cookies, Armadillomon." mocked Hawkmon, the red bird, playfully, with a British voice. "It's a wonder you're so strong after consuming those fattening snacks."

"When you gotta eat, you gotta eat. The sweeter, the better!"

As the playful conversation of food continued, the humans were having their own talk, though under not-so friendly circumstances.

"Admit it, Davis." Yolei began. "You don't have to look awesome to do your job."

"Come on, Yolei." argued Davis. "I was going to finish up the spire with a few more shots. Besides, it's not like any other bad guy is going to come in and take them as their own. These things are practically useless right now."

"The sooner we get rid of the dark spires, the better." said Cody. "Those things still give me the creeps. And I can say this for all the other Digimon."

As they continued to converse, they began to walk away from the destruction of the spire, accompanied by their Digimon partners.

Another day of hard work had gone by, and the trio had come out victorious. Their job to defend this world was starting to extinguish the flames of evil that once plagued it. It was their sworn duty after all. They were the DigiDestined, in the strange Digital World of Digimon.

* * *

Somewhere further away, another Control Spire was taken down. This time, three more DigiDestined were at work in destroying it.

A boy with a green shirt with long yellow sleeves and a white hat atop a Pegasus-like creature glad in golden armour.

A girl in a pink and white sleeveless shirt about two thirds of the boy's size riding on a sphinx-like Digimon, white in colour with its front yellow paws worn with a pair of white armour pads.

And finally, another boy with neatly combed black hair wearing a slick grey jacket on top of the right shoulder of a humanoid bug with spikes on its shoulders and huge wings beating rapidly.

They flew down back to the ground, landing down as they let their friends on board come down on their feet. The Digimon too had devolve into much smaller forms, a small rodent-like winged Digimon shaped like a little pig, a cat who could stand on two legs and had a golden ring on her tail, and a worm with purple jaws and a larger pair of frontal claws.

"And another tower bites the dust." said the boy with the hat, T.K.

"And another speck of Malomyotismon's legacy wiped out." added his faithful partner, Patamon.

"Yeah…" The neat boy, Ken, sighed sadly, catching the attention of the girl named Kari.

"What's wrong, Ken?" she asked worriedly.

"You look like a cat waiting for the mouse to come out of his hole for months." quirked Gatomon, Kari's cat Digimon.

Ken shook his head and gave a small smile to the two others, but somehow they knew it was forced. The curves of his brows said it all.

"N-Nothing, guys. I'm cool." But as he turned his head around, the two children decided to check on him. It was then they saw his smile turn upside down again. If they had to guess, there was one thing that did trouble him.

"Ken?" The boy's partner, Wormmon, wriggled up to him, clutching his leg and called for his friend, worried himself. "Is there really nothing bothering you?"

Ken could just stare at his partner in sadness, reminding him of his tragic past.

As it happened, this boy, Ken Ichijouji, was the one responsible for the darkness that consumed the Digital World before, becoming the so-called Digimon Emperor and reigning terror upon the world. But he was only a puppet for the true darkness that was MaloMyotismon, who had planted the seeds, literally, to absolute chaos.

By looking as his always-concerned Digimon, it had always reminded him of the horrible treatment he had inflicted on the poor Wormmon, whipping him whenever he was annoyed by his presence, but Wormmon would always come back, constantly worried for his 'Master', and that brought the inner pain to even bigger heights when he had to remember more of the whippings.

Up to this day, he, a changed man now, grew to regret the horrible deeds he had done. The memories haunted him, even as he finally chose the right side and defeated the very evil he helped create.

The memories caused him to shed tears every time, and now was no exception.

"Oh, Ken…" Wormmon then buried his head on his Master's…

No.

His **friend's** leg, catching Ken by surprise.

"I know what's bothering you. You're still upset that you helped cause all of this."

Ken did not want to lie anymore. Wormmon was right. Being the Digimon Emperor had left a very sour note in his life. A time he wished did not happen. Shedding more tears, he bent down on his feet and gave Wormmon a soothing hug.

"You're right, Wormmon." He sniffed while Wormmon also started crying. "I… I just wished I didn't let this happen."

The others present were also concerned for Ken. They were always there by his side once he joined the DigiDestined and they weren't going to stop now. They came to his side, hoping to comfort him; to remind him that his becoming as one of the DigiDestined was meant to be.

"If you weren't there, then you wouldn't be able to help us." reminded T.K. "There was a good reason you were chosen to be one of us."

"T. K's right." agreed Kari. "Even if you didn't grab that Digivice, Myotismon would always find to come back anyhow."

"Yeah. Trust me." Gatomon brought up her experience with the evil Digimon. "Knowing him, he'd be creeping around anyone's shadow like a panther in the night to get his revenge. Take it from me, a former slave of his tainted evil." She clenched her paws in, still angry at how the evil Digimon used to force her to do no good.

"Please don't be upset, Ken." said Patamon. "You did redeem yourself after all. If it weren't for you, we wouldn't be here, just like what Kari said earlier."

Ken then looked around at this wonderful menagerie of people and Digimon he had befriended before turning to the one friend who never left his side.

"You see, Ken. Your friends are there for you. Just as I am. Always." Wormmon mustered a good smile for him.

With his friends cheering, his spirits were lifted again. And from that moment, he would do his best to not let the past haunt him. Rubbing his eyes, he gave a firm nod and a real smile.

"Thanks everyone." As things were now settled, it was time to re-join with the others.

With Ken out at the front with Wormmon in his arms, TK and Kari, with Patamon on the boy's hat and Gatomon being carried in Kari's arms too, were talking amongst themselves.

Among all of the DigiDestined, these two had more experience of how Digimon work, with TK being the most experienced, as they were part of an original team who had their own problems with Myotismon and more. Practically, there was never a moment when either one would show up. Thanks to their experiences, the two had become quite close. Very close.

"Phew…" TK sighed. "I should really hit the hay tonight, but by the time we arrive back home, it's still afternoon."

"You can't argue with a good daytime nap, though." cheered Patamon.

"Maybe you're right. At least we're not keeping us being DigiDestined a secret from our parents. They'll understand."

"But don't forget." said Kari. "We still have to plan for the next semester. And I want to make sure we're all picture perfect when we're at school again."

"You can do that." TK winked. "But me and Patamon are going to spend the rest of the holidays just relaxing from our battle against the darkness."

"Fine. Your loss." The two then looked up at the sky, reminiscing about all the times they had fighting evil.

"How long has it been since we've been fighting bad guys, Patamon?" he asked his old friend.

"Since I was a little ball of fluff." joked Patamon causing TK to grin.

"Very funny."

"I'll say." added Kari. "You two are like the veterans of this whole thing."

"Hey, you were there too when we fought Myotismon."

"Still, I can't deny that you were the one who had the most experience out of all of us." Kari had her hands behind her back as she continued to praise her best friend's background with the DigiDestined business. TK could not help but feel a little flustered by the comments he was getting.

"And that goes to that little piggy up on your head." Gatomon smirked as she teased the boy's Digimon partner.

"Oh haha." Patamon sarcastically laughed. "Like you're a good kitty cat yourself."

The Digimon then went on to argue at each other as Patamon flew away from TK's head and Gatomon jumped out of Kari's arms to walk alone, with Patamon bugging her away.

This exchange, however, only earned giggles from their human partners. knowing them, they'll make up somehow.

Soon, the sun set down from the horizon as dusk came, painting the whole scene in a blend of orange and purple, while the two continued to look back at their long adventures. Ken and Wormmon were still talking to each other contently and their Digimon were still exchanging insults that turned into playful chasing.

"It's been such a long journey for us, huh?" TK spoke.

"Yeah…" Kari nodded in agreement. She was quiet for a while, feeling grateful for some reason. "Hey, TK?"

The boy faced her after she called him. He could see a small tint of red on her cheeks and a slight hint of shyness on her face, while he wondered what she was about to say.

"I just want to say…"

"Say what?" The boy grew curious as she shrugged back to her bright smile.

"Thanks." TK could not find the reason to her thanks.

"What for?"

"For watching out for m- I mean us." She bit her tongue as if she had accidentally said something that did not need to come out from her mouth. Or did it?

"Well, you've been backing us up ever since we started this. And I just wanna say for all of us, that, TK, you're awesome."

TK could have sworn he was giving her the biggest smile he could ever give her. After everything that had happened to him in the past few years, it was really a good feeling to hear that he was playing such an important role to his team.

"Gee, thanks." He rubbed the back of his head, feeling a little bit sheepish himself. "I really appreciate that." Just when Kari thought it was going to end right there…

"Actually, I would like to thank you too."

"Huh?" It was now Kari's turn to fall curious.

"Well, I… uh… really kinda like having you around to fight my battles with me. I'm really glad to have you as my friend."

Kari was blushing intensively, though she did her best to hide it from TK. That was just TK for you. He was just so kind to people and surely knew how to wow people. Maybe he'll be a chick magnet one day.

" _Wait!_ " She shook her head trying to shake off her thoughts. " _No! That was so wrong! Why did I just think that?_ "

"Huh?"

But then, something else went in her mind. This time unfortunately, instead of another happy feeling, this was far from anything good.

"What the?" Suddenly, Kari could see an unusual occurrence happening around her. The first thing she saw was that the beautiful colour of the sun set was being greyed out completely as the scene was now completely devoid of any colour.

"What's happening, TK?" She tried to call upon her friend, but to her horror, when she looked to where he was standing, he was gone.

"TK?" Panicking, she looked for the rest of her company, only to find that they, too, were no more. She was all alone in the darkness.

"What is this?!" Getting more fearful, the girl could not move a muscle, frozen in absolute fear. The whole land around her was grey and black with not a single form of colour, not even on herself as she looked at her hands.

"This…" However, as it so happened, this was not anything new to her. This was something she had experienced before and as always, there was nothing in her heart… "…can't be…"

… except fear…

"No… No… NO… NO NO NO!" She crouched down, shaking all around. Her body was completely numb with consuming terror and her heart being stabbed with the agony of her fear of the darkness. The enemy of light had struck her hard.

It was only about to get worse for her…

~ _THIS IS THE BEGINNING OF THE END~_

A bone chilling voice, low and rough, sent more chills down her spine. Unable to move her body, she could only turn her head from side to side, looking for whatever was agitating her.

"W-wh-Who… Who's there?!" She frantically called out.

 _~YOU SHALL KNOW PAIN AND SUFFERING BEYOND YOUR WILDEST IMAGINATIONS~_

Eyes now widened, she began to feel more and more scared to the core. And then, another big blow came.

In front of her pale face, two giant red eyes opened right there. Two bloody red eyes furrowed in anger, spreading a painful feeling to her heart, but the fear was so strong that she could not even cringe from that stabbing feeling.

There was nothing more she could do, but listen to the voice as it continued to pummel her with unlimited fear.

 _~THE DEMON SHALL BE REBORN TO ASCEND THE FALLEN FROM THE ASHES! AND THEY SHALL SMITE THE WORLD OF PEACE AND GOOD~_

 _~UNTIL THERE IS NO HOPE, NO LIGHT, NO DREAMS, NO PEACE, AND NO FREEDOM~_

 _~DARKNESS SHALL REIGN AND YOU SHALL FALL TO THE OBSERVER OF CHAOS ~_

 _~YOU SHALL PERISH~_

 _~YOUR FRIENDS WILL SUFFER~_

 _~ YOUR WORLDS…~_

Finally, to complete her utmost shock, the eyes burst open with a powerful chilling force blowing right at her.

 _ **WILL BURN! ~**_

The red eyes soon brightened up in a brilliant flash, blinding the girl as the fear overwhelmed her to her fullest, causing her to suddenly blacken out.

* * *

"AAAAHHH!"

"Kari!" TK watched as Kari, after being still with sudden fear, being knocked back with a powerful scream, prompting everyone else to shout out to her as well.

As her body fell, TK quickly took hold of the body before it crashed down. Ken and the other Digimon rushed to their side.

"Kari?! What happened?!" Gatomon was riddled with fear as her DigiDestined partner fell unconscious from her sudden fall.

"She's knocked out cold! ICE COLD!" Patamon could not help himself as he flew around in a panic.

"Oh no…" Then, Ken crouched down to feel her head, only to feel a sudden chill in his spine as well.

"What's the matter, Ken?" Wormmon looked to his friend, noticing a slightly less fearful face on Ken, with his irises shrinking.

"It's… no… Not again."

"What again?" TK too, desperate for answers, called out to Ken. Fortunately, Ken was still conscious enough to answer him, but the answer was probably not what he wanted. Not at a time like this, when they were just finished with their battle against evil forces.

"It's… the darkness…"

* * *

In a frantic rush, everyone had regrouped, with the rest of the DigiDestined now completely in shock about what happened to Kari, especially Davis, who was pushing himself off the edge all the way back home.

In a computer room, in another world, a computer screen began to light up a ray beam which then fired orbs of energy at the floor.

The orbs became larger and from out of them, the forms of the DigiDestined, now in changed clothes, and the Digimon, with some of them now in even smaller forms except for Patamon and Gatomon, were seen.

Now, though, there was an unconscious Kari Kamiya in Yolei's arms, with the whole team now in complete panic.

"We gotta get her home!" she exclaimed. "Call Tai! Now!"

Cody complied, running outside the room to the nearest payphone. Everyone else could only stay still around their knocked out friend, hoping that she would eventually come to.

"Come on, Kari…" TK then held the cold girl's hand in his own, praying for her recovery.

* * *

Minutes have passed since she was knocked out, and Kari was still not waking up. They could see she was still breathing, but there were no signs of her regaining her consciousness. The gang was starting to feel restless.

"I've not seen Kari like this since she was caught in the Dark Ocean." stated TK.

"Not to mention the time she, Yolei and I were there too." reminded Ken, who earned a little glare from Yolei.

"Don't even remind me about that." she said irritatingly.

"But…" Gatomon made a worried face for her fallen partner, shedding a small tear. "This is worse than what I've seen… She never blacked out for this long before. In fact, she's… never blacked out at all."

Davis, on the other hand, tried to remain as positive as he could for Kari, for it was his 'thing' to stay by her side, at least, so he claimed.

"She'll be alright. I just know it! I know my girl." As pointless as that sounded, any positive thought for Kari was still needed anyway.

"Davis is right!" DemiVeemon cheered for his partner.

TK kept on holding her hand, constantly holding on to hope to stay focused on comforting his friend as she slept.

Just how could things fall so easily right after they had made their ultimate victory against the forces of darkness? It looked that that power was not done with them yet, but with a terrible situation at the moment of their climax, they had the sinking feeling that this was going to be the beginning of another crisis, even as they hoped for it to be a temporary aftermath.

Then, as the silence seeped in some more, there was movement in Kari. Her eyelids began to twitch and her body was showing slight motion from her body. Soon, her voice was heard in a quiet moan.

"H…Huh?"

At once, the group around her was on full alert as they watched their friend coming back to life. Finally, after a while, Kari had opened her eyes.

Regaining her blurry vision, she was able to see that she was in the school's computer room, accompanied by all her friends, human and Digimon alike.

She began to regain her sight when suddenly…

"AAAH!" She was tackled by a hug of fluff and sniffles. She was able to notice the white furry body enveloping her in the embrace and that long tail with a ring.

"Kari! Thank my nine lives, I'm so glad you're okay!" She could hear the sobbing of Gatomon's voice as she returned the hug.

"Are you okay?!" shouted a frantic Davis. "Are you hurt?! Do you need medical attention?! I-I-I'll get a doctor!"

"I-It's okay, Davis…" Kari woozily assured after releasing Gatomon; her head riddled with pain as she held it with her hand. "I'll live. Ergh…"

"You sure?" Yolei then bent down on the floor to ask about her condition, to which Kari gave her a small pained smile.

"Yeah…" Then, she could see a hand out in front of her. When she looked at the person himself, she saw TK, giving her another assuring smile as she lent her a hand getting back up.

"I'm really glad you're alright." he said, which caused a little flustering on her part. She took it like a champ though and nudged the boy with her elbow playfully.

She was feeling the most grateful moment she had in a long while. From out of a horrible occurrence, she was beyond relieved to see her friends again.

"Well, like you said, I've been through a lot. Enough to take a hit."

No one seemed to notice Davis groan in envy after their exchange. Sheesh, TK sure knew how to mess up his attempts to win Kari over.

"How come he gets all the girls…?" He scoffed quietly.

However, even with everyone jubilant of Kari's awakening, there was a frown on her face, catching the gang in curiosity.

"Kari? What's wrong?" Upamon bounced up and down.

"Hmm?" Kari had come out of her train of thought when she heard the little Digimon call out to her. Now, she had to recall the moments in that terrible vision she had.

The ever-shrouding darkness all around sucking all the colour out of her world. The sudden disappearance of her friends. And worst of all. The sinister voice and those big red eyes, chanting what was believed to be a prophecy of sorts. If it was indeed a vision of what might come, then it was a good time to tell everyone and let them be prepared for the storm that might come.

"Guys…" she called.

 **BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!**

Suddenly, the same computer that teleported them to the real world began to make some alarming beeping noises, prompting everyone to run for the computer screen.

Being the one with the computer expertise, Yolei pulled out the chair below the desk and sat down to do her work, to manage the program inside.

"What?!" After analysing a few screens of data, she was appalled to what she saw.

"Please don't tell me something's wrong." Cody begged.

"Yolei? What's going on?" Ken asked the stunned girl. And when she adjusted her glasses one more time, she delivered the bad news.

"There's a big Digimon on the loose… just a few blocks away. And it's going berserk!"

* * *

Right outside the middle school, the nearby square was filled with the frightened screams of fleeing pedestrians as they escape certain doom at the sight of a large Triceratops-like creature terrorizing the area. It roared in anger as it stomped on the asphalt of roads leaving behind deep craters, and totalling cars into dented burning wrecks.

The creature was so gigantic, the DigiDestined, on their way to the incident, could see the giant behemoth from outside the school gate. They took about five minutes to dash towards the attacking monster, with their Digimon following close behind.

The moment they arrived to the square, they stood to watch the menacing beast rampaging through the streets causing mass hysteria all around.

"Oh, come on! Couldn't you just stay in the Digital World where there's practically no evil around to ruin your day?!" Yolei was getting really impatient by the amount of work being dropped upon them.

"Well, guys!" Davis took to the front as leader of the team. "We'll just beat Triceramon back and send him home to the Digital World. Simple, right?"

"I don't think simple is the word you're looking for." said a stuttering Poromon.

"What are we doing standing around?!" DemiVeemon bounced up to his fellow Trainee Digimon. "We need to Digivolve! Davis, make us monsters grow!"

"You got it!" Immediately, the kids, except Kari, all took out their digital mobile devices with an antenna on top. Pointing them at their Digimon, the critters then started to glow bright all around their bodies. Since Kari was not using her device, Gatomon was the only one not being transformed.

The little Digimon, except Patamon, were the first to Digivolve.

" **DemiVeemon, Digivolve to…VEEMON!** "

" **Minomon, Digivolve to…WORMMON!** "

" **Poromon, Digivolve to… HAWKMON!** "

" **Upamon, Digivolve to…ARMADILLOMON!** "

But once they Digivolved, they, and eventually Patamon, were able to change again.

" **Veemon, Digivolve to…EX-VEEMON!** "

" **Wormmon, Digivolve to…STINGMON!** "

" **Hawkmon, Digivolve to… AQUILAMON!** "

" **Armadillomon, Digivolve to…ANKYLOMON!** "

" **Patamon, Digivolve to…ANGEMON!** "

While Ex-Veemon, Stingmon and Aquilamon finished their transformations, the others had new forms.

Instead of the drilling monster that he was earlier, Armadillomon was now a large ankylosaur-like monster that was given more armour around his head and an even more powerful mace of a club tail.

Patamon was now a human angel with four pure white wings and his head protected by a steel helmet, while also being armed with a golden staff. With his transformation complete, Gatomon pounced right up and landed on top of Angemon's right shoulder.

"Ready to rock, big guy?" she signalled to her teammate, with a fire within her heart ready to burn bright, as do everyone else.

"As always." The angel Digimon responded as the squad of Champions were poised to strike.

The Triceramon turned around to see the six Digimon just staring down at him. Acting on his wild instincts, the rogue Digimon stood his ground and prepared to charge at them. He knelt down to the ground and dragged its foot back and forth like a bull before jumping right up and stormed towards the Digimon.

With their human partners all protected behind a stone wall, the Digimon squad were ready to defend their friends. All at once, they charged against the beast as well.

The first to attack was Triceramon, who lunged his horn right at Ex-Veemon. The dragon Digimon was able to fly right out of the attack and crossed his arms in front of X-symbol on his chest.

" **V-LASER!** " The symbol fired up an X-shaped laser and shot it right at the Triceramon. The projectile struck the neck frill of the creature, forcing him back in a small distance. "X marks the spot!"

"That's it! Ex-Veemon! Show 'em who's boss!" cheered Davis.

"My turn!" Aquilamon then made a swoop down at the pinned Triceramon, charging up his horns for his own main attack. " **GRAND HORN!** " The horns fired crimson waves of energy speeding right for the enemy, blowing up above him.

However, despite the power evident in the blowout, from out of the red smoke, Triceramon burst out and swing his horns at the bird Digimon while he was at low altitude. The attack came so fast that Aquilamon was not quick enough to avoid it.

"Aquilamon! Look out!" Yolei screamed from behind the wall.

" **HAND OF FATE!** "

Fortunately, the Digimon was spared by a saving grace from a golden beam of bright energy blowing back the brutal Digimon. Aquilamon quickly turned to look and saw the angel Digimon who protected him from the attack.

"Thanks, Angemon. Remind me to pay you back for that." thanked Aquilamon.

"Don't worry." said Angemon. "I'll take a note."

"Alright, Angemon!" TK rooted for his Digimon's prowess.

"Okay, buddy." Gatomon held on to her friend's head, aiming herself right for the beast below. "Drop me off where I can pound that sucker down on his thick skull!"

"Go get 'em!" Angemon slowed down his flight to give Gatomon the height she needed to bring one powerful smack to Triceramon. In position, she leapt off from the shoulder and raised her paw clenched into a fist before swinging down on Triceramon, who had just recovered from his plight.

" **LIGHTNING PAW!** " Gatomon gave out maximum force right at Triceramon's head with her paw, pinning the monster down to the road and crashing him into a nasty crater on it.

"Good job, Gatomon!" Kari applauded the cat's mighty punch.

As Gatomon jumped away from danger, Triceramon slowly raised himself up. With all of this immense pressure on him, the Digimon was now even angrier, snorting in frustration.

"Oh, so you're steaming hot now, huh?" Stingmon flew right above him and raised his fist in the air. From his wrist, a glowing purple claw extended right out of it. "Well, let me cool you off!"

" **SPIKING STRIKE!** " Thrusting out the claw, Stingmon dived down upon Triceramon and struck the giant Digimon at his body. The blade delivered a painful poison that slowly drained Triceramon, until he had lost his strength to fight, unable to move his body.

"You got it, Stingmon." said Ken, smiling at his Digimon.

With the attack successful, it was time to finish Triceramon off. The one to deliver the final blow was Ankylomon. Moving into position, he walked towards the fallen Digimon before turning around and raising his mace tail on top of him.

"Let's finish this up, Ankylomon!" Cody cheered for his companion.

" **TAIL HAMMER!** " The mace was dropped down on Triceramon and clobbered the downed Digimon even further.

There was no movement from Triceramon afterwards. The giant laid down on the levelled ground, seemingly unconscious.

"I think he's finally down for the count." Davis could see the Digimon knocked out with his eyes closed shut and body frozen with inactivity. "Okay, Yolei. You got that laptop with 'ya?"

"Online and ready for Digi Mail." Yolei pulled out a laptop from the bag she was carrying the whole time. She then got into position, ready to do her job to send the Digimon back to the Digital World.

 **GRRRRR…**

"Huh?"

 **RROOOARRR!**

Unfortunately, the eyes opened up and Triceramon was back in the game, roaring in power as he rose from the ground and stomped towards the DigiDestined.

"Look out!" Ken shouted as he pulled Yolei back to the safety of the wall. Ex-Veemon quickly swooped down and blocked the rampaging beast by holding on the frilled-head from hurting the humans.

"Get out of here! This is going to be one brief sumo slam!" Ex-Veemon told the others to leave while he protected them.

As much as he wished to hold on, the Triceramon was able to tire him out enough to lift him in the air and flung the dragon Digimon into the air. As his foe came down, Triceramon then charged his head right at him just as he was about to touch the ground, sending him hurling towards a building.

"Ex-Veemon!" Davis yelled.

"This can't be." Yolei was at a loss for words, just watching Triceramon pummel Aquilamon next, with the bird Digimon being struck by a fire ball spat from his mouth. "Even with all of our attacks, how could he recover from all of that?"

"Look at his skin." Kari looked towards the rough scaly surface of the monster's skin. "There's not even a single scratch."

The battle resumed as Triceramon soon began picking out other targets, slamming Angemon into a wreck of cars. Gatomon scurried to help her friend by giving Triceramon another whack to the back of his head, but the Digimon was able to sense her move and retaliated with a tail whip. The thick appendage whipped the cat Digimon like a log slamming down on a car, chucking her on top of Angemon in a loud boom.

Ankylomon was next to give him his Tail Hammer once again, and this time he was going to stay down for sure.

However, as Triceramon saw the wrecking ball coming down on him, he raised both of his feet in the air and allowed the mace to slam into his hands. Triceramon stood upright as he resisted the massive object without even sinking to the ground.

"Huh? How are you liftin' my Tail Hammer?" Ankylomon stared helplessly at the raging Triceramon before noticing something very frightening. When Triceramon gave one push up, he opened his eyes. And now, instead of the wild blue eyes, they now grew bright red, bringing an almost bone-chilling feeling to the titan.

Ankylomon could feel his tail being lifted like it was a beach ball, with Triceramon throwing it as hard as he could. The power of the push was so tremendous, the armoured Digimon himself was even flung along with the tail, forcing him to fall on his shell.

When the dust settled, Ankylomon was now overturned and his underbelly was now exposed.

"Not only is Triceramon now back up on his feet…" TK stammered from the shock of seeing the Digimon being revived and clobbering their Digimon with no difficulty. "But he's also gotten stronger. Just look at him go!"

"What are we going to do now?" Kari held her hands together, praying for an end to this catastrophe.

"Wait a minute…" Then, Ken had noticed something peculiar. He scanned the Triceramon just as it was chasing Stingmon, who was flying around in circles hoping to get a lock on his target. At that moment, on the monster's right shoulder, he saw it.

"Up there! There's some sort of… flower?"

A little flower bud hanging and latching on to the Digimon in a free ride. A flower with black petals, slowly dangling from this berserker. However, from the look on Ken's face, this was no ordinary flower.

"Wait… It can't be…"

His face was stricken with sudden revelation and shock as he recognized the dark flower on Triceramon. It was a reminder of what had happened to him long ago.

"It's a Dark Spore!"

"What?!" The DigiDestined exclaimed altogether as they took their turn finding that evil plant on the beast.

There was no doubt. It was a Dark Spore which was empowering Triceramon with pure darkness, just like it had to a few children during their previous battles. A tool of evil, that they thought was destroyed forever. "But… how?"

"So that's giving Triceramon his powers. But the question is, how did he get it?" Cody asked.

"Yeah, I thought all of the Dark Spores were wiped out for good."

They still could not believe their eyes as Triceramon resumed his rampage on Stingmon and Ex-Veemon. To their horror, the rest of the squad were all eliminated, left aside by the monster's brutality to shiver and groan in absolute pain.

The two of the Champions were both side by side, ready to defend themselves against the charging Digimon. Triceramon then lowered his head and pointed his horns on them. The horns were about to strike the duo before they caught the horns and were being pushed back; their feet dragging along the road and creating crack lines.

"Let's do the puzzle-solving later." Davis protested. "Right now, we have to make sure our Digimon are okay!"

The DigiDestined paid their attention to the Digimon left fighting the enraged and corrupted beast. It was not a pleasant sight as Aquilamon, Ankylomon, Angemon and Gatomon were all knocked out of the fight. Greatly weakened, the Champions, minus Gatomon, all reverted back to their Rookie Forms and slumped down, not moving an inch.

Each of their respective partners ran to help them up while Ken and Davis headed for the two remaining fighters in the battle.

"You okay, Armadillomon? Speak to me." Cody held his partner by the shell while stroking his head. The Digimon responded with heavy shivering and a hurt expression on his face, showing signs of injury.

"Er… nothing a bowl of udon can't fix…" Armadillomon did his best to comfort his friend by cracking a food joke, but his condition was not helping one bit.

"How many… lives do I have now, Kari?" Gatomon yelped as she was caressed by Kari.

"All nine intact." The girl answered softly and sadly.

"Ergh…" Hawkmon tried to move his arm, but the pain suffered during the blowout left a nasty sting.

"Don't move, Hawkmon!" Yolei exclaimed, holding onto her friend.

"Wh-What are we to do now…?" Hawkmon weakly said.

"He's just… too powerful… TK." Patamon also whispered tiredly. "Not even Angemon can stop him."

"There's gotta be a way." TK clenched his fist in anger. He was not willing to let one Digimon ruin the city and hurt his friends and get away with it, but in the condition they were at, there was very little they could do. It was all up to Ex-Veemon and Stingmon, if they could survive at all.

The Dark Spore on Triceramon continued to feed him with rich and haunting power, allowing the beast to become stronger within every minute. The last two Champions left were losing their grip against the horns, visibly getting tired. Eventually, they lost strength enough to give Triceramon the edge by pushing them into a building.

They kept on fighting, but were getting crushed by the growing power of the horns.

Davis and Ken were just metres away from the power struggle, anticipating the worst. Triceramon was just too powerful for those two to take down now. They needed to find a solution.

"Too bad they don't have enough power to DNA Digivolve!" stammered Ken.

"Huh?" Davis gave Ken a shocked look. "What do you mean they can't? Of course they can!"

"I'll…" Ken was having trouble explaining to Davis about the inability to use their combination technique. He was Davis after all. But even if he was to know, there was no time for lessons. Action was most needed right now. "I'll explain later. But right now, we got to help Stingmon and Ex-Veemon."

"Yeah, but… how? What can we do?"

Taking a guess, Ken set his sights the dark spore on Triceramon. Carefully scanning and studying it, he tried to come up with a plan for that little plant.

"If Dark Spores give out the same dark energy as the Dark Rings I used to have…" He pained to remember the dark devices and inventions he constructed long ago to inflict suffering upon the Digital World, but he knew he had no choice but to think back to those horrid days.

After the thinking process was over, he came up with a theory.

"Davis, tell Ex-Veemon to hit the spore on Triceramon." Davis caught the word and set his sights on the plant. "If I'm correct, if we destroy the spore, we can break the corruption."

With a snap of his fingers, Davis understood.

"Great idea! Now why didn't I think of that?" Ken rolled his eyes, while Davis yelled out to his friend. "Ex-Veemon!"

"A… little… busy right now!" Ex-Veemon and Stingmon were both still being pressed violently against the wall as Triceramon pumped up more power onto them. They were starting to lose their strength as their hold started to slip.

"Well, get your schedule rechecked! We need you to destroy that Dark Spore on Triceramon's shoulder!"

The two Digimon looked around their attacker as much as they could while still pushing against Triceramon with their might.

Then, Ex-Veemon was able to spot the flower from over Triceramon's arm.

"Yep! I see it!"

"Well, what are you waiting for? Blast it!" Davis ordered. "It's our only chance to beat this guy!"

However, they were still being stuck by the full force of Triceramon's strength, but Ex-Veemon did not stop trying to at least make one last slip.

Using his tail, he slithered it right under him and coiled it around Triceramon's right leg. After one strong pull, the tail yanked off the leg, causing the berserker to trip over and tumble down, releasing his captives.

The two dropped down on the ground, breathing in lost air.

"Whoo! That was close! And I mean really close!" Ex-Veemon puffed out some air.

"Thank you, Ex-Veemon." thanked Stingmon as he was now free to flutter his wings. "Now, to deal with that Dark Spore!" He zoomed up in the air again and looked down upon the fallen dinosaur Digimon.

He deployed his venomous claw again and set his sights on the dark spore bud. Stingmon swooped down, pointing his weapon at the plant.

" **SPIKING STRIKE!** "

The blade cut the flower away from the stem as the plant altogether had finally disintegrated into thin air.

The Dark Spore was no more and Triceramon was now free of the corruption. He was still knocked out, but since he was actually spending more time sleeping away than waking up to constant rage, everyone knew that the situation was now under control.

Yolei wasted no time, placing Hawkmon gently on the ground and taking out her laptop again.

Thankfully, she was uninterrupted as she opened up the computer, activated the gate to the Digital World and pointed the screen at Triceramon.

"Digi-Port, Open!" At her command, the computer lit up and shined on the sleeping Digimon. The light ray eventually turned into a sucking portal that pulled him into the computer. When the light vanished, Triceramon was finally back in the Digital World.

Yolei witched her computer off before closing the lid, ending a hectic day of battling the rogue Digimon. She let out a sigh, having been exhausted by the near tumultuous conflict.

She turned around to find the last Champions finally biting the dust, devolving back to their Rookie forms. Davis and Ken walked over to pick them up.

"W-Was… Was that a finisher or what?" Despite his weak condition, Veemon was still able to show his pride for the victory, smiling meekly at his partner.

Davis also returned the gesture with a smirk.

"You showed him alright."

"Ken…" Wormmon called sickly. "Did I do good?"

Ken hugged the worm Digimon close to his head, as they affectionately rubbed each other's heads.

"You did great, Wormmon."

The humans picked up their partners and walked back to their friends, who were all carrying their Digimon as well.

* * *

After a brutal takedown, the DigiDestined went over to a nearby bus stop to allow their Digimon to rest and heal. They had been bruised quite badly from the thrashing they had sustained, but fortunately, nothing was too serious. All they needed was a little break, silently sleeping in the care of their human friends.

"Boy, they sure took a beating out there…" sighed Cody as he stroked a slumbering Upamon. The little critter snored away in peace as a bubble came in and out of his nose.

"Poor things." sighed Kari. "They are always willing to push themselves further for us and for our worlds."

"Yeah." agreed Ken. "But I don't think we would have it any other way. These little guys are true heroes."

Night was setting in; the streets of Odaiba were being darkened, only to be illuminated again by the street lights and house lamps around them, signalling the group that it was time to part ways and head on home.

However, as it so happened, Davis had one thing to ask before they could go.

"Hey, Ken?" he called to the boy genius, who looked at Davis curiously. "About that time when you said 'we couldn't DNA Digivolve'?"

The rest of the children were taken aback by what Davis said. They did not comprehend on what Ken had mentioned to him, but saying that their Digimon could not DNA Digivolve, which involved fusing two of their Digimon together into one more powerful Digimon.

"Oh… right." Ken scratched the back of his head, but he was hesitant that now the rest of the group wanted to know as well.

"What is Davis saying, Ken?" asked Yolei.

"Are you saying we can't DNA Digivolve our friends now?" added Cody.

"Well…" Ken finally spoke up. "It has to do with Imperialdramon and the Giga Crusher he used back in the Digital against MaloMyotismon."

The gang remembered back in the final battle against MaloMyotismon.

"To power the cannon to destroy him, it took the entire power of all the Digimon, the Digital World and the DigiDestined to fuel it. Thus, with that ultimate strike, much of the data power used were completely destroyed, while only fragments of it were left to spare. Thus, the beginning of the regeneration of the Digital World's energy."

"So… would this affect the DNA Digivolution process?" asked Kari.

"While there is enough data and power to Digivolve them to their Champion or Armoured states, I'm afraid there isn't any for their more powerful forms."

"That also means…" TK sighed, assuming more bad news. "Their Ultimate forms and their DNA Digivolutions."

The scene was silent. With a handicap in their hands, they were now at a glaring disadvantage.

But now, there was a new worry; one that Yolei was keeping for a while, but was too busy taking care of Poromon, she wanted to say it until the time was right. Now here was a good one as any.

"So… what are we going to do now?" she wondered aloud.

"What are you trying to bring up, Yolei?" asked Davis.

"I mean." She really didn't want to break it to them, but there was no other viable option but to let them know about how things were going to happen. "About the Dark Spore."

The group understood her concern and took it to heart themselves. This was definitely a new change of things. Just when they were finally over with their battle against evil, along came a Dark Spore popping out of nowhere, corrupting a Digimon and causing it to damage the city square in the process.

Where did it come from, and what would this mean to the DigiDestined? Would this ultimately mean that their fight was not over yet?

Everyone knew that this was inevitable. Something was wrong with the Digital World somehow, so their jobs as the DigiDestined were far from over.

For now, they hoped that these spores were just an accident, spread by a miss in the cleaning process of the Digital World.

"Well, I say we just get some rest tonight. Tomorrow, we shall just do what we always do." Davis suggested to the team. "Clear out more Spires and now, Dark Spores if there are any. Hopefully, we don't have to run into any more of those Digimon again."

At last, with their plans set on returning to the Digital World the next day, the kids finally ended their conversation and walked on again back home.

Then, TK looked at the group and noticed that someone was missing. He turned around, with Patamon resting deeply on his head, and saw Kari standing still. Her face was still stone cold after their discussion earlier with her head hanging down in thought.

"Kari?" He snapped her back into reality and she looked towards the boy.

"Huh? Oh… coming." She shook her head and continued to walk towards TK, intent on heading home. Her head, however, hung down, shielding her face from the boy.

As she passed him, TK, however, was still wanting to know if she had anything troubling her.

"You okay, Kari?"

Kari stopped. She hesitated for a brief moment, as if she did not want to tell him of what was bugging her. Regardless, she turned around and looked up to TK giving him a sweet smile.

"Yeah." she answered. "I am."

Then, TK walked towards her and put his hands on her shoulders.

Kari was taken aback by his action. The moment she felt TK's hands touch her shoulders, she could feel a small rush of heat in her cheeks along with a small patch of red on each cheek. She stared at the boy, enticed for some reason.

"Okay. But I just wanna let you know, if there's anything wrong, please… don't hesitate to come look for me, Gatomon, Davis, Tai or anyone else. We're all there for you. Always."

What she didn't realize however, was that TK, too, was experiencing the same feeling. What was this heat in his face? Why was he having butterflies in his stomach?

They continued to stare into each other for a while, unaware that they were even staring in the first place. But after a few seconds, they caught on to what was happening and quickly separated, blushing intensively.

They exchanged a few awkward glances before eventually, they laughed their awkwardness away. TK always seemed like the one person, other than her family, who would always make her feel comfortable, and she rather enjoyed having him around. Thanks to him, her mood brightened.

After having their fun and feeling all better, they looked at each other again.

"Thanks, TK." She smiled gratefully at the boy she knew for so long, causing him to give her a thumbs up in approval.

"Anytime."

With the two done with their exchange, they resumed their walk home, catching up to the rest of the DigiDestined along the way.

Their worries seemed to have subsided, but in his heart, TK was still suspicious that something was haunting Kari. That sudden burst of fear she displayed back in the Digital World was enough to tell him that.

Just what did Kari envision that caused her to faint earlier?

From the looks of things, it seemed that the event had left behind some effect to her mood now. Hopefully, he'll find out what it was someday, but for Kari's sake, he'll just stand by, willing to protect her if things go awry again.

* * *

 _~THE DEMON SHALL BE REBORN TO ASCEND THE FALLEN FROM THE ASHES! AND THEY SHALL SMITE THE WORLD OF PEACE AND GOOD~_

 _~UNTIL THERE IS NO HOPE, NO LIGHT, NO DREAMS, NO PEACE, AND NO FREEDOM~_

 _~DARKNESS SHALL REIGN AND YOU SHALL FALL TO THE OBSERVER OF CHAOS ~_

 _~YOU SHALL PERISH~_

 _~YOUR FRIENDS WILL SUFFER~_

 _~ YOUR WORLDS…~_

 _ **WILL BURN! ~**_

* * *

Back in her home, Kari was in her room, lying down on her bed and facing the ceiling. Gatomon was soundly asleep on her basket with a blanket underneath to keep her comfortable for her long rest.

Kari was thinking back at that terrifying nightmare she had back at the Digital World. Forget the terrible imagery, she was indeed sceptical about this whole day.

The vision. The Dark Spires still standing. The Dark Spore on Triceramon. Was there a connection between all of this?

It was then she hoped that it wasn't true. However, she could not help but wonder if there really was something that was about to happen.

If there was, then how would this evil come to be? What terrors would await them? Most of all, though, who would be responsible?

Ken was no longer the Digimon Emperor, Arukenimon and Mummymon were wiped out, Daemon was cast away into the Dark Ocean with no way to return, and MaloMyotismon was no more. And for all she and TK knew, the Dark Masters or any of their older enemies were out of the question too.

So, if not them, then who?

At this point, she would be willing to tell her friends about her nightmare, but then…

 _~YOUR FRIENDS WILL SUFFER~_

That one sentence. 'Your friends shall suffer'. If this nightmare was true, then it was clear to her that should she get her friends involved, then it would spell disaster to those close to her.

So, it all came down to one question.

Was this for real? Or was it just leftover paranoia that remained even after the battle was won?

She hoped for the best that things would turn out just fine and decided to let this horrible occasion slide. Maybe she was overreacting; just very vulnerable to the power of darkness that she would end up becoming sucked into false predictions and such.

"Kari?"

Just then, she was suddenly called by the tired sound of Gatomon, who had her head perked up to find herself in Kari's room.

"Gatomon!" She got up from bed and walked towards the Digimon. She picked her up and gave her a gentle hug as to prevent Gatomon from feeling any of her inner pains. She then released herself from her embrace and looked at Gatomon.

"Wh- How did I get here?" the Digimon asked; puzzled about her whereabouts.

"After that battle with Triceramon, you and the other Digimon were knocked out cold. But don't worry. We managed to send him back to the Digital World safe and sound."

After listening to Kari's story, Gatomon let out a big yawn, intent on sleeping in again.

"Alright. So, now that that's settled, I would like to resume my feast in dreamland, if you don't mind."

Giggling at her friend, Kari complied, tucking Gatomon back to her bed. The Digimon immediately fell back asleep, curled into a ball and dozing off into her fishy fantasies.

Eventually, Kari too had to call it a night and went back to bed herself. She fluffed her pillow up as she laid down, closing her eyes and went to sleep.

"Good night, Kari."

"Sleep tight, Gatomon. Don't let the bedbugs bite."

"Oh, they'll be biting their dust if they try..."

While finally sleeping, Kari hoped that the visions would not come back to terrorize her, so she held on to the one thing she could depend on. Around her neck, she wore a necklace, which was tied with a plaque. The plaque contained a pink crest shaped like a flower. Holding on to this crest, she prayed for a peaceful and quiet slumber. It was her Crest of Light. The very symbol that protected her throughout her tenure as a DigiDestined. Containing a powerful force of light inside, it would protect her from darkness wherever she went.

With the power in her hand, she was sure that she would be able to live through the night without having to face these dark visions again…

…for now…

* * *

 **BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!**

"Hmmm… Huh?"

"Ken!"

"Rgh…" A loud wake-up call from his alarm clock and the yelling of his Digimon friend, Ken arose from bed, feeling sluggish after a rough time from the day before. "Wh- what is it, Minomon?"

 **BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!**

Suddenly, Ken noticed the beeping sounded really odd. For a moment, he could have sworn that his clock alarm sounded like the Digi-Gate to the Digital World.

Wait, what?!

"Hang on."

At that moment, Ken hurriedly leapt out of his bed and ran to his computer. The monitor screen was brightly lit, showing that it was switched on. Minomon was right in front of the screen, hopping up and down in an alarming manner.

"This is not good! This is not good! THIS IS NOT GOOD!" screamed Minomon.

"What's going on, Minomon?" Ken rushed to the computer and saw what was on. It was the Digi-Gate as Ken expected it to be.

But this time, there was something far worse than what he had imagined this time around.

"No…"

The window featuring the Digi-Gate was opened, with the red button on the top right of the gate program window blinking. This was not a good sign. Usually, it meant that another rogue Digimon, like Triceramon from the day before, was on the loose into the Real World.

Yet, what frightened Ken more was how fast the light was blinking. Almost faster than the eye could tell.

Having no choice but to find out just how bad the situation was, he sat down on his chair, moved the mouse and clicked on the button, waiting for the bad news to pop out.

As a map of the world opened up, his eyes widened in pure horror. All around the world, red lights were blinking from time to time. As they kept blinking, another set of dots appeared. And another. And another!

This was a really terrible sight to behold. It was a disaster waiting to happen.

The world was about to be attacked again by more rogue Digimon.

"I better call the others!"

* * *

 **Chapter 2 successfully completed! So yeah, here's where a lot of changes were made compared to the original story, so there isn't really any point going back to it, right? XD**

 **Anyways, I managed to add more elements of the story into the chapter and a little bit of character introduction like the last chapter, so from now on, this is how I should write my stories from now on. With character development and slow pacing!**

 **Plus, do look around for a few Easter Egg puns I put in there XD**

 **Alright! I shall make my leave. perhaps after this, I'll need to take time for my other fics before continuing on this story again, but will make time for all when need be.**

 **Till then, I'll be signing off! Catch ya later!**


End file.
